Last Updated on August 6, 2023, 2:54 AM | Published: April 15, 2022
This is the fourth in an ongoing series where we explore the dynamics of the affordable housing crisis in the Oklahoma City metro. See a list of previous reports at the bottom.
OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — So far, in our ongoing examination of the affordable housing crisis in OKC and elsewhere, we’ve explored the conditions, bureaucracies, and complexities of the issue from the front lines with the city government’s own homeless services department, the coalition of activists working to inform legislators, and the low-income housing developers themselves.
Though there are plenty of conflicting opinions from each of those groups about how to approach and handle the growing problems of housing affordability and availability, there seems to be one thing they all agree on:
Any meaningful solutions will have to come at a state level.
“Homebuilders, realtors, lenders, all agree that it’s a terribly unfair situation,” Representative Mickey Dollens told me, “and so we are going to address it through legislation.”
A Democrat, Dollens has represented Oklahoma’s 93rd House District on the south side of OKC since 2016, working to tackle issues as varied as animal protections and disability accessibility before setting his sights on housing availability in the state.
Dollens says that this crisis will be a major part of his platform going forward, but he can’t yet say exactly what form his efforts will take without a great deal of research and input.
“It’ll require a deep dive before we decide on a policy or multiple policies to address the issue,” he said.
Out-of-state developers
The one thing that Dollens is sure of already is that he intends to address what he sees as an increasing problem of corporate, out-of-state developers and landlords buying up property in Oklahoma and demanding prices that effectively shut out prospective low-income homebuyers.
“There are a lot of qualified homebuyers that are just being edged out of the market by cash offers,” he explained, “most of them coming from corporate landlords that will hold the properties and then, when they decide to rent them out, usually charge two-and-a-half times more than what the mortgage would be if those people, who are qualified borrowers, were able to acquire those homes for ownership.”
Dollens says that the ability for these corporate-backed, often out-of-state property companies to offer direct cash payment for both houses and undeveloped land in Oklahoma is creating a clear disadvantage for state residents looking to leave the rental world and become homeowners.
“I’ve seen real-life story after story of Oklahomans who have put down multiple, sometimes 20 to 30 offers and they can’t get out of renting,” he said. “They just aren’t competitive. It’s insane.”
Breaking the rent cycle
This issue of making it easier for first-time and lower-income homebuyers to compete in the housing market is of particular interest for Dollens, and he intends to explore ways to give them a better fighting chance.
“My goal is for those who want to be homeowners to not be forced to be renters for the rest of their lives,” he said, “but with the pattern in which the trend is going, that is going to be more and more common for where people can’t get out of the rent cycle.”
What a legislative solution to this would look like, however, is something that he can’t specify yet, but he says that, before the beginning of the next legislative session, he plans to convene a think tank of contributors from all sides of the housing world.
“I want to bring in all stakeholders,” he said, “from our federal delegation to our municipalities, to county assessors, to realtors, to home builders, loan officers, everything you can imagine, so that we can create sensible and effective legislation that’s not going to cross the boundary into stalling the free market, but also giving Oklahomans a fair shot at home ownership.”
Everything on the table
Dollens says he is prepared to approach this issue from all angles, already singling out one potential driving force that people may not realize has contributed to the rise in out-of-state buyers across Oklahoma.
“The Department of Tourism for the past two years has been proactively marketing to people in California who are fed up with those policies to move to Oklahoma,” he told me. “The fact that they’re living here is a good thing, and I’m glad, but maybe it’s worth asking the Department of Tourism ‘did you ever consider that by recruiting people in California to move here, you’re decreasing housing inventory for lifelong Oklahomans?’”
Ensuring that established Oklahomans have a sustainable availability of housing before offering property or land to out-of-state buyers will be Dollens’ top priority as he and his think tank debate and consider the best legislation to propose.
When asked if he’s prepared to go as far as proposing high taxes or legal disincentives to actively price out-of-state interests out of the buying power they currently hold in Oklahoma, he was unequivocal in his response.
“Absolutely,” he said.
Previous series posts
- Affordable housing dev in OKC hamstrung by red tape, credit competition
- Complex affordable housing crisis on display across Oklahoma City
- Affordable Housing Day brings info, advocacy to Okla legislature
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
