Gov. Stitt’s ‘Operation SAFE’ displaces hundreds in Tulsa

TULSA, Okla. — Operation SAFE, Gov. Kevin Stitt’s order to remove homeless encampments from state-owned land in Tulsa, displaced hundreds of homeless Tulsans over the course of its three-week campaign.

Stitt sought to clean up the city through the operation, but limited shelter space, a lack of resources and barriers preventing people from accessing help hindered those living on state land from fulfilling his demands of shelter or jail, which forced many homeless people onto city property.

As a result of Operation SAFE, many have moved to Springdale Park, using it as a temporary camp after losing most or all of their belongings during sweeps.

“It feels shitty,” Trey, a homeless man at Springdale Park, said. “No one wants that to happen.”

Trey preferred not to share his last name out of fear of losing job or housing opportunities.

Trey is one of hundreds of Tulsans displaced by the operation, which the governor enacted to enforce Senate Bill 1854, passed in 2024.

Operation SAFE

Dubbed the anti-camping law, SB 1854 banned unauthorized camping on state-owned properties.

The city of Tulsa and its mayor, Monroe Nichols, were not upholding that law, said Abegail Cave, Gov. Stitt’s communications director.

Nichols countered.

“Tulsa is not the only city (with homelessness),” Nichols said. “Tulsa is the only target.”

Operation SAFE, or Swift Action for Families Everywhere, bulldozed through encampments using state resources, including troopers and transportation department staff. The sweeps primarily targeted highway underpasses and rights-of-way, resulting in the clearance of 64 sites and nearly 2 million pounds of debris.

“Now I’m calling on our city leaders to keep it that way,” Stitt said via social media.

However, shelter leaders said the state government could have used resources to better address the problem rather than pushing it onto city officials.

“They were cutting mental health services in the same breath that they were deploying OHP out to Tulsa,” said Rachel Freeman, president and CEO of City Care. “First and foremost, cities like Tulsa and Oklahoma City, they are not working with infrastructure big enough for these needs.”

Mental health funding

Amid cuts in the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, homeless advocates said state funding for those programs is necessary to properly address Oklahoma’s homelessness.

The state is cutting programs that could contribute to solutions to get people housed, Freeman said.

At the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma, approximately $600,000 was cut, including money for the organization’s street outreach program. The program still has some funding from cities and independent donors.

“It is kind of ironic that the governor is deploying OHP to go clear out encampments, meanwhile, we are losing funding for our street outreach teams,” Carrie Blumert, CEO of the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma, said.

Blumert said Mental Health Association Oklahoma will likely lose another 20% of its program funding in the next renewal cycle.

The lack of funding makes it more difficult for the Mental Health Association Oklahoma to provide programs that support people experiencing homelessness.

“Homelessness boils down to one thing, and that is a lack of a support system,” said Josh Sanders, director of outreach for the Tulsa Day Center.

Shelter solutions

Many shelters, including the Tulsa Day Center and City Care in Oklahoma City, are low-barrier shelters. Those shelters don’t require IDs, birth certificates or other identification in order to access services. The shelters help those who may have lost those documents get them in order to move into more permanent housing.

“The biggest barrier for folks almost every time is space,” Sanders said.

With people experiencing homelessness, their day-to-day is filled with so many failures and beatdowns that if a shelter were to add barriers to accessing resources, it would only make their lives more difficult, Sanders said.

Low-barrier shelters allow people to access already scarce resources more easily, and move them one step closer to housing.

Shelters such as the Tulsa Day Center and City Care offer case management, medical resources and steps towards permanent housing as well as temporary shelter for those experiencing homelessness.

“You can’t just pull somebody off the street,” said Ashley Bryant, an outreach worker for the Tulsa Day Center. “You have to dive into each individual person to help them keep their long-term housing.”

Bryant was formerly homeless and received resources like those offered by the Tulsa Day Center and City Care.

Chronic homelessness

A study by the National Alliance to End Homelessness found that ending chronic homelessness would save taxpayers money.

Chronic homelessness refers to people with ongoing or complex health conditions, including mental illnesses, substance use and medical conditions who experience long-term homelessness.

The study found that without stable housing, the other issues become significantly harder to address, making it more difficult to end chronic homelessness.

A person experiencing chronic homelessness costs taxpayers an average $35,578 a year. That number is cut in half when the chronically homeless person is placed in housing.

“If the state really wants to solve homelessness and get people off the street, they need to invest in affordable housing, permanent supportive housing, mental health treatment and outreach teams,” Blumert said. “We know it works, we’ve seen it work.”

For every 10,000 people living in Oklahoma, 13 reported experiencing homelessness last year. That is higher than Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. New Mexico and Colorado reported higher rates, with 22 and 32 cases per 10,000, respectively.

“Affordable housing and access to services is the only pathway to functional zero,” Freeman said.

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