News and Events
City Hopes Grant Money Will Help End Homelessness In Tulsa
Saturday, July 14, 2007
From NewsChannel 8:
Location: Tulsa
Reporter: Elizabeth Kinney
Posted: July 14, 2007 11:44 AM EST
URL: http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0707/439278.html
Tulsa - The City of Tulsa is hoping to make a dent in the homeless population. A new two-million dollar grant will build a living center for about sixty people who have no where to live.
It's estimated that every night, six to seven hundred homeless people are staying in Tulsa's shelters or on the streets. Two-hundred-fifty of them are chronically homeless, meaning they are out there every day and night. But, the first step to getting them off the street is getting them into housing.
You really can't judge a book by its cover and really don't know what's happened in somebody's life."
William Ronk knows this well. He was a student at OU, working on computers when he had a huge life change.
"I suffered from depression, anxiety for an extended period of time, lost my housing, vehicle, job."
He ended up on the street and stayed in the Day Center for the Homeless until the Mental Health Association helped him get into transitional housing.
"Because the housing situation relieved so much of my stress, anxiety, depression I moved from that into housing within the community," he says.
Housing is the first step. And, the two-million dollar state grant will give sixty of Tulsa's homeless a place to call their own.
"Once they have a place to live, have an address, bring services around them."
Services like health care, substance abuse treatment, and job training. Eventually residents will have to pay rent until they are ready to move out on their own.
"To have a place to live is so healing," says Mike Brose with the Mental Health Association. "It is therapeutic and the basis of healing has to go on for people to be able to reclaim their lives."
William has reclaimed his. Today he's back, working with the Mental Health Association to help others get off the streets. He says this type of housing could make Tulsa the first city to end homelessness.
"It's really unique for this area," he says. "Tulsa really has it going on."
The City is looking at locations to put the sixty-unit housing center. They say it will be outside the downtown area and hope the community welcomes it. There are already about 225 transitional homes in Tulsa.
The City will also be seeking private money to pay for the housing. The Mental Health Association says the cost of leaving these people on the streets is more than getting them into a home.
Copyright 2007 KTUL, LLC.
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