Steven Proto, Edmond

Oklahoma’s Encampment Sweeps Had Three Very Different Outcomes in Three Cities

When Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Operation SAFE came to Norman on May 22, Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers cleared a homeless encampment on state-owned property without warning to service providers or the people living there. Advocates said it stripped vulnerable people of their belongings, disrupted active housing efforts and accomplished nothing lasting.

Jake Ramsey reports the Norman sweep stands in sharp contrast to how Operation SAFE unfolded in Oklahoma City in November. After watching the Tulsa rollout produce a public rift between Stitt and Mayor Monroe Nichols and further displace unhoused residents, Oklahoma City advocates proactively approached the state about collaboration. Service providers were included in the process and the state agreed to pay up to $800,000 for housing and services for those displaced.

Advocates said the Oklahoma City approach was less damaging precisely because housing was offered on the back end and shelters served as staging grounds rather than end points.

In Norman, none of that happened. Food and Shelter Inc. director Jess Alvarez said people were given no information about where to go next and that the sweep amounted to displacement with no follow-through.

Rachel Freeman, president of Oklahoma City shelter City Care, said encampment sweeps without housing options are not cost-effective, not compassionate and not effective. She said criminalizing homelessness disrupts active case management relationships and makes it harder to track and serve people who are close to being housed.

The governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

More worth knowing:

Three Charged in Arcadia Lake Shooting Two alleged gang members have been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy in the mass shooting at Arcadia Lake in Edmond that police now say was a premeditated plan for retaliation. [The Oklahoman ▲] [OPMX]

New Interim Director at Mental Health Agency Gov. Kevin Stitt announced his appointment of Josh Anderson to serve as interim commissioner. He will replace former interim commissioner Gregory Slavonic. [Tulsa World ▲]

Flooding Prompts Emergency Declaration Extensive flooding in the Tulsa area over the weekend prompted Gov. Kevin Stitt to declare a disaster emergency in Tulsa, Creek and Okfuskee counties. Stitt signed an executive order on Sunday after flooding caused considerable damage to public and private property across a broad area of eastern Oklahoma. [Tulsa World ▲]

Youth Services Extended Young adults in the Oklahoma foster care system can soon apply to retain services past their 18th birthday, under a new state law. The voluntary program state legislators unanimously passed this session will allow eligible individuals in the foster care program to receive stipend payments, Medicaid coverage, continued support from a caseworker or other resources until they are 21. [Oklahoma Voice]

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While Tulsa’s white newspapers downplayed or ignored the destruction of Greenwood, The Oklahoma Guide — one of Oklahoma’s leading Black newspapers — reported on the Tulsa Race Massacre in its June 9, 1921 edition, a document that would become an essential primary source when historians finally began reconstructing the full story seven decades later.

Ciao for now,

Ted Streuli Executive Director, Oklahoma Watch tstreuli@oklahomawatch.org