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In 2020, Tulsa adopted a bold vision to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring. This effort united hundreds of community members and partners to create a clear path forward, supported by the development of A Way Home for Tulsa (AWH4T) as a strong member-based continuum of care and the establishment of Housing Solutions to lead implementation.
Over the past five years, AWH4T has made significant progress, even in the face of challenges like the COVID pandemic and rising rental costs. Together, AWH4T has prevented homelessness for 18,000 people, housed more than 4,000 individuals and families, and maintained a 94% housing retention rate for those placed in permanent housing. Additionally, federal funding for homelessness in Tulsa has increased to over $4.76 million annually. Yet, rising housing costs—up 30% since 2019—and stagnant wages continue to deepen the housing affordability crisis, making this work more urgent than ever.
The 2025–2029 Strategic Plan renews Tulsa’s commitment to not only housing people currently experiencing homelessness but also preventing future homelessness. This plan defines homelessness as the absence of stable, safe, permanent, or appropriate housing and emphasizes the need for comprehensive solutions.
Eviction Court. Increase resources for eviction court to allow for more consideration of individual eviction cases, maintaining the relationship with Chief Presiding Judge of the Eviction Docket for the provision of resources and education.
Laws & Ordinances. Continue work on changing state and local laws and ordinances to address the power imbalance in eviction court.
Consequences. Enforce consequences for landlords and their legal representatives who violate laws and professional standards.
High Numbers of Evictions. Identify property owners and landlords with a high number of evictions or egregious eviction practices and intercede to educate and prevent filings.
Courthouse support. Maintain high-visibility programs and partnerships, such as Legal Aid and the Landlord Tenant Resource Center, to provide information, advocacy, and assistance to tenants.
Data & Partnerships. Employ existing data and partnerships to identify households at risk of eviction and provide targeted eviction prevention resources, identifying and cementing new sources of data and partnerships to further understand the scope of need.
Public Information. Create and distribute materials to the public about tenant rights, options, and available resources.
Centralized Coordination. Leveraging a “no wrong door” approach and 211, develop a robust, centralized entity to function as a conduit for eviction prevention information and resource coordination.
Partnership. Enhance partnership with Tulsa Apartment Association and other like entities to inform landlords of resources available to prevent eviction proceedings, such as tenant mediation services, financial services, or other supportive resources.
Landlord Incentives. Incentivize landlords and landlord attorneys to partner on eviction prevention strategies by offering resources.
Flexible Funding. Increase the availability of flexible funding resources available to tenants and/or landlords to prevent evictions.
Jail Discharge. Partner with David L. Moss (DLM) Criminal Justice Center and Tulsa County leadership to reduce the number of discharges to homelessness and provide for safe discharge.
DOC Discharge. Support agencies working with the Department of Corrections administration to revise policies and processes, ensuring effective transitions at discharge.
Health Care Discharge. Connect health care providers to necessary housing resources, creating paths for discharge from hospitals or other health care institutions to housing.
Foster Care Discharge. Coordinate with agencies serving youth exiting foster care to ensure access to employment and housing resources prior to aging out of state custody, preventing exits to homelessness.
Connect Before Exit. Create opportunities for individuals leaving a system of care to connect to community resources while still in the institution or in custody.
Mentorship. Strengthen mentorship and peer support programs and networks, including by leveraging the faith-based community.
Transition Resources. Extend service periods after discharge from foster care and corrections systems for resources such as housing search support, job training, substance use and mental health treatment, home-based services, family supports, mentorship programs, or community connections to effectively support transition and recovery.
Continuous Case Management. Provide enhanced case management beginning prior to release and continuing for at least six months after release, as needed, for persons leaving foster care and correctional settings.
Housing for Transitions. To respond to individualized needs, expand availability and variety of short-term housing models for the transition period between institutions and independence, such as medical respite beds, targeted crisis beds with specialized services, rapid rehousing, safe haven beds, shared housing, bridge housing, and host home models.
Analyze the system annually to identify gaps, inequities and inefficiencies to create annual funding and action priorities.
System Analysis. Annually, undertake a system analysis—including an evaluation of the coordinated entry system (CES)—by collecting broad, cross-sector input and reviewing community needs and system resources (including housing, transportation, and services). Identify gaps in services provided or populations served (e.g., people on sex offender registries, justice-involved, women, young adults, couples, people with pets, people with mobility needs, people with severe mental illness), inequity in populations served (e.g., analyzed by race or 2SLGBTQ+ status), duplications or inefficient practices, or other opportunities. Then, ascertain annual priorities for system performance.
Funding Landscape. Develop a funding landscape based on the system analysis to guide community-wide understanding of funding needs and priorities, updating as system analysis and available funding changes.
Standards. Update Outcome & Service Standards at a minimum every five years to reflect community expectations. Standards address issues such as client satisfaction, inclusivity (e.g., people of color, 2SLGBTQ+, mental health status), assertively advancing racial equity, performance expectations, efficiency, and fidelity to evidence-based or innovative practices.
Implementation. Create and implement a process to review the integration of Outcome & Service Standards for homeless programs, regardless of funding source. Develop onboarding process for new homeless programs and create an implementation scale for service providers and funders to self-assess.
Lived Experience Leadership. Support people with lived experience as leaders and decision makers in developing and carrying out processes for service standard integration and updates.
Direct Resources. After the initial transition period and in alignment with annual system analysis priorities, funders will partner with providers to allocate federal, state, city, county, and private resources only to programs in compliance with community Outcome & Service Standards or implementing innovative programs.
Program Policies. Reduce barriers to entry throughout the system by amending program-level policies (related to pets, possessions, irrelevant criminal records, or prior suspension) or developing resources to support program access.
Shelter Alternatives. Informed by annual system analysis, develop sustainable shelter alternatives, including diversion and prevention programs.
Resources. Informed by the annual system analysis, scale resources for effective, necessary programs, which may include case management availability, employment programs, education, services for certain vulnerable populations, health care services, transportation or mentorship programs, among others.
Medicaid. Utilize all available Medicaid expansion and managed care resources.
Education and Advocacy. Educate the community on healthcare policies, especially regarding Medicaid and managed care that affect people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. Promote the development of advocates and partners to affect policy changes locally and nationally.
Transportation. Partner with public transportation systems, alternative transportation services, and health care to provide transportation for people in the homelessness system of care, ensuring access to services, court appearances, education, employment, etc.
Benefits Applications.Partner with additional government and benefits agencies to ensure income and other mainstream benefits are available to all people experiencing or have recently experienced homelessness, offering on-site application events and accepting applications through diverse platforms (via homeless agencies or other community locations or electronically).
Access to Health Care.Ensure all people experiencing homelessness can access healthcare services, both mental and physical, expanding availability of mobile physical health teams, adding physical health care providers to existing teams, providing opportunities for virtual appointments, or other strategies to provide preventative care and shorten benefits documentation processes.
Substance Use Treatment.Utilize staff from Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCHBC) and local treatment providers to provide responsive, on-site substance use treatment support at homeless agencies, housing sites, or workforce development programs.
Employment and Education. Increase access to mainstream and other resources, supporting paths to employment, including job training and education programs, for persons at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
Trauma-Informed Care.Develop resources and a training program for CoC organizations and staff to identify and respond to trauma using evidence-based practices; support AWH4T partners in implementing Trauma-Informed practices at all staff levels.
Enhance inter-system coordination and case management to support access to housing.
Inter-System Coordination.Establish processes to communicate with neighboring systems of care, including medical facilities, school systems and law enforcement, about program capacity and resources to support successful transitions and respond to trauma.
Case Management.Develop community standards and benchmarks around case management best practices, expectations, onboarding, and caseloads.
Capacity Building.Provide technical assistance to AWH4T partners to implement adequate on-going training and on-boarding for direct service staff.
Peer Specialists.Develop peer specialist positions to support people experiencing homelessness to engage in services, especially case management; peer specialists will be comprehensively trained and supported. Create internships through which people with lived experience can advance into peer specialist positions, compensating peers for their experience and expertise.
Identify a Living Wage. Identify a living wage for the homeless system of care by analyzing wage structures and implementing recommendations.
Build community support to change local policies to produce quality, affordable housing, preserve existing housing stock and reduce policy-level barriers to housing.
Communications Strategy. Develop a communications plan to build community support and deepen understanding of Tulsa’s housing crisis, including identified gaps, weaknesses, and potential strategies to increase affordable housing.
Barriers. Reduce policies that create barriers to housing such as housing discrimination, overly broad criminal background exclusions, and rejections for those with prior evictions or poor credit history.
Create New Partnerships. Provide technical assistance to new and existing AWH4T partners to develop or partner on new housing opportunities. Develop and implement a strategy to expand healthcare partnerships to create housing.
Affordable Unit Designation. Create a process to support developers and affordable housing buildings in designating set-asides to ensure target populations have access to these units.
Affordable Housing Coalition. Partner with the Affordable Housing Coalition to be created under the Tulsa Housing Strategy.
Support the implementation of the Tulsa Housing Strategy.
Increase the Number of New PSH Units. Work with City of Tulsa, Tulsa County, affordable housing developers to create at least 1,200 new permanent supportive housing units.
Increase the Number of New RRH Units. Work with partners to create at least 1,400 new rapid rehousing housing units.
New Units for Low-Income Households. Support implementation of the Tulsa Housing Strategy to create an additional 5,000 units for households with low incomes.
Inventory. Create a program to market AWH4T housing programs to landlords.
Housing Search. Support households not connected to services with their affordable housing searches and application submission.
Tenant Education. Develop a community-wide program to improve tenant education around areas such as tenant rights and responsibilities, financial stability, and expungement for persons exiting or at risk of homelessness.
Landlord Engagement. Centralize landlord engagement to develop new partnerships with owners and developers and increase housing supply for AWH4T partner programs. Create housing navigator / landlord liaison positions that include services to educate and support landlords to reduce evictions.
Landlord Incentives & Risk Mitigation Funds. Create a fund to provide landlord incentives and risk mitigation funds for damages to units.
Tulsa Housing Authority (THA) Partnership. Partner with Tulsa Housing Authority to identify an increased number of apartment complexes that will accept housing vouchers and persons with criminal backgrounds, records of eviction, or other housing barriers.
Support tenants who have stabilized in permanent supportive housing to transition to other housing options, increasing service and unit availability for people who are currently experiencing homelessness.
Move On. To open permanent supportive housing units for people exiting homelessness, create additional Move On strategies to transition permanent supportive housing residents who no longer need intensive services to other subsidized housing (e.g., Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency, Tulsa Housing Authority).
Permanent Housing. Using the Systems Analysis and Tulsa Housing Study, increase the availability and types of permanent housing in type (e.g. rapid re-housing) and service needs (e.g., PSH for high needs) for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Housing Problem Solving / Diversion. Develop a system-wide housing problem-solving program, which includes services and flexible funds to divert households from entering the shelter system or experiencing unsheltered homelessness.
Housing Stability Case Management. Increase the availability of housing stability case management, which ensures all people in AWH4T housing projects have the coordinated services and support they need to maintain stable housing.
Education, Employment, and Benefits. Ensure people exiting homelessness to permanent housing have access to education, employment, and benefits such as Medicaid / Medicaid Expansion and are connected to Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) and other licensed providers.
Flexible Fund. Create flexible funds to offset financial barriers to obtaining housing (e.g., security deposit, application fees, furniture, movers, etc.) and develop ongoing resources to overcome cultural barriers to seeking assistance.
Funding Analysis. Conduct a funding analysis to review the sources and utilization of flexible funds to ensure the community is strategic and leveraging funds to reduce barriers to housing.
Employers. Identify Employer Champions that currently hire homeless or formerly homeless individuals and partner with these Employer Champions to identify and engage additional employers in this effort.
Employee Support. Educate employers about how to identify and support employees in a housing crisis to ensure long-term stability.
Schools. Collaborate with area schools to share resources and provide support for students at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
Opportunities to Give. Coordinate community donations of time, money, or other resources to end homelessness in Tulsa.
Communications Plan. Implement a community-wide communications plan that includes an effective social media strategy and sharing success stories from people with lived experience, AWH4T member agencies, and landlords.
Sharing Information. Provide community members, including faith-based organizations and businesses, with information about how the community is responding to homelessness. Develop a method for effectively sharing information about services for AWH4T members and the community.
Advocacy. Advocate for federal and state changes to reduce barriers to housing for people who are experiencing or at-risk of homelessness.
Expungement. Educate individuals with criminal justice involvement about the possibility of expungement and resources where they can learn more and obtain legal assistance.
Leadership Council. Expand and diversify members and partners to include healthcare and non-traditional partners. Mobilize AWH4T partners to action.
Lead Agency. Strengthen Housing Solutions so they can continue to align the strategic planning efforts, task force initiatives, and planning committees across all system partners.
AWH4T Partners. Strengthen partner agency capacity to assist in implementing the strategic plan and provide services in alignment with the AWH4T Service Standards.
People with Lived Experience. Ensure ongoing leadership development and financial support to the Participant Advisory Group (PAG) and Youth Action Board (YAB) to provide leadership, decision-making, advocacy, and mentorship in ending homelessness.
Racial Equity Analysis. Conduct a full racial equity analysis to identify any possible racial inequities within the homeless system of care, implement actions for improvement, and ensure AWH4T leadership and community members understand how the homeless system of care is perpetuating racial inequity.
Data Sharing. Improve data sharing across providers. Increase and include more cross-sector data sharing (e.g., healthcare, education).
Tracking Progress. Use data to share and discuss performance/ impact with the community and homelessness service providers at least quarterly.
Educate and Communicate. Create opportunities to communicate with the wider community that align with AWH4T communications plans around data, gaps, and progress in ending homelessness. Communicate impact in an accessible way (e.g., cost of eviction).
Increase Federal and State Funding. Expand and diversify state and federal funding.
Local Funding. Increase city funding dedicated to responding to homelessness.
Capacity Building. Increase organizational capacity to develop new permanent housing projects and apply for available funding. Develop a list of fundable projects for the community.
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