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What to know
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A bill that would create state oversight of homeless shelters and several other measures addressing housing and homelessness have survived a key deadline in the Oklahoma Legislature.
Bills needed to pass out of their chamber of origin by March 26. Bills that didn’t pass out of the full House or Senate by the deadline are usually considered dead for this legislative session.
House Bill 3131, by Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, and Sen. Warren Hamilton, R-McCurtain, would task the State Department of Health with establishing safety standards for homeless shelters. Shelters would have to comply with the rules to receive state-administered funding.
An amendment to the measure seeks to create a nine-member Oklahoma Homeless Shelter Standards Advisory Board. The board, which would operate for five years after the measure is enacted, would advise the Health Department and Oklahoma Department of Commerce, as well as submit annual recommendations to the Legislature.
The Governor’s Interagency Council on Homelessness served a similar function of communicating with state and local agencies and coordinating a homeless response before Gov. Kevin Stitt disbanded it in 2023.
It would cost $83,675 a year for the Health Department to carry out the bill’s terms, according to a fiscal analysis. The Department of Commerce currently administers a grant program with reporting requirements that overlap with those of HB 3131. If the grant program remains with the department, it will only need an additional $27,701 a year to fulfill the terms of the measure. If the program is moved, the annual cost for the department will jump to $134,487.
In total, the yearly fiscal impact of HB 3131 could be up to $218,162, according to a fiscal analysis.
Meghan Mueller, CEO of the Oklahoma City shelter The Homeless Alliance, said area shelters met with West during the bill’s development. She’s glad to see the current version of the measure reflect some of the concerns raised during the meeting, such as removing the creation of a statewide Continuum of Care.
Oklahoma has eight Continuum of Care organizations located throughout the state to coordinate homeless response strategies unique to their areas and distribute government funding to local service providers. HB 3131 originally sought to create a statewide Continuum of Care, which Mueller said could have been “highly disruptive” to homeless response systems by isolating resources. It’s unclear whether the proposed statewide Continuum of Care would have replaced or been in addition to the eight local organizations.
Providers also have concerns about the advisory board, Mueller said. Though provider representation is mentioned in the measure, there’s no guarantee the individual — who would be appointed by the governor — would have direct experience or expertise in shelter operations, and it’s unclear what would happen once the board dissolves in five years.
“Nonprofits in this space are already subject to rigorous oversight, audits and reporting requirements,” Mueller said. “While we appreciate the improvements made since the bill’s introduction, we continue to ask: what problem does this legislation solve?”
Other bills moving forward
Two measures to reform Oklahoma’s eviction process also passed out of their chambers of origin. Senate Bill 1209, authored by Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, and Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, seeks to remove sundays and holidays from the period tenants have to appear in court after getting an eviction summons. Kirt told The Frontier she filed the measure to help lessen the burden on courts and renters.
Oklahoma has one of the shortest eviction timelines in the country, churning out more than a quarter million eviction filings since March of 2020, according to data collected by the nonprofit Legal Services Corporation.
Another bill coauthored by Kirt and Rep. Amanda Clinton, D-Tulsa, would allow defendants to request court-supervised mediation if a mediator is available in cases involving renters with minor children. An earlier draft of the measure proposed requiring this mediation before a landlord could evict a tenant with minor children. State law currently allows landlords to file an eviction against a tenant within five days after the tenant fails to pay rent.
More measures to watch
A measure to strengthen tenant protections is also moving forward. House Bill 2015, authored by Paeand Sen. Todd Gollihare, R-Kellyville, would provide tenants with clear legal recourse if a landlord fails to meet legal obligations. The measure outlines actions a tenant can take and when they can seek damages or withhold rent until issues are addressed.
Counties could use private donations to help relocate people experiencing homelessness if a separate measure passes. Senate Bill 483, authored by Sen. Darrell Weaver, R-Moore, and Rep. Dell Kerbs, R-Shawnee, would allow counties to cover travel costs for unhoused people who elect to return to a place where they have family, a job or someone willing to receive and support them.
To participate, people have to be sober at the time of departure and able to travel alone, and can’t be on parole or probation, among other requirements.
Sabine Brown, housing senior policy analyst for the nonpartisan think tank Oklahoma Policy Institute, said the majority of Oklahoma’s unhoused population began experiencing homelessness in the state. The latest survey available found 75% of people living outdoors in Oklahoma City originated there, and 87% of those surveyed became homeless in Oklahoma.
“There might be a small number of people who end up here after a job or other opportunity fell through. For folks like this, help getting back to family and friends who can support them can make a real difference,” Brown said. “For most people, though, home is already here.”
Bills left behind
A bill to help schools address chronic student absenteeism linked to unstable housing didn’t make it out of its chamber of origin by the legislative deadline. The measure, House Bill 3698, authored by Rep. Ellen Pogemiller, D-Oklahoma City, and Kirt would have created the Student Eviction Assistance Pilot Program Revolving Fund to use education money to provide legal representation in eviction cases for low-income tenants with children enrolled in an Oklahoma school.
Nearly a quarter of Oklahoma students missed at least 10% of school days during the 2022-23 school year, according to the federal education department. Meanwhile, the number of youth experiencing homelessness in the state has grown.
Oklahoma lawmakers propose changes to laws on housing, homelessness and eviction
Proposed legislation could reshape how Oklahoma addresses homelessness and eviction, with new policies aimed at enforcement, housing access and local control.
Senate Bill 1332, authored by Kirt and Rep. Mark Lawson, R-Sapulpa, looked to create the Targeted Housing and Responsible Infrastructure for Vital Economies, or THRIVE Act, to establish zero-interest loans to cover water infrastructure costs for new housing. The measure, now considered dead for this session, aimed to address the state’s shortfall of workforce housing, Kirt said in a press release. Oklahoma currently lacks 84,000 affordable homes for those who are extremely low income, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Senate Bill 1545 by Kirt stalled as well. The measure sought to establish the Yes in God’s Backyard Act, making it easier for faith-based organizations to apply to develop affordable housing on their property.
Another measure, Senate Bill 1205 authored by Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, would have allowed residents to sue cities over the enforcement of anti-camping laws and other acts. The bill didn’t move forward.
Neither did a measure to ban cities from seizing personal property on public land unless it was clearly abandoned or posed a threat to public health or safety. Senate Bill 1235 by Republican lawmakers Sen. Dave Rader and Rep. Mark Tedford, both from Tulsa, would have protected things like birth certificates, personal identification and prescriptions — things often lost during homeless encampment sweeps like Operation SAFE in Tulsa, where bulldozers tore through evacuated camps.
A controversial measure to ban nongovernmental organizations from “knowingly or recklessly” giving material support like food and shelter to asylum seekers or immigrants lacking permanent legal status also won’t be moving forward.
Senate Bill 1554, authored by Sen. Randy Grellner, R-Cushing, would have made any organization in violation of these rules permanently ineligible to receive state and local funding. Officials and employees of nongovernmental organizations who knowingly violated the law would have been guilty of a felony, according to the measure, and spent up to five years in prison, received a fine up to $50,000, or both.
Gabriela Ramirez-Perez, an immigration policy analyst for the Oklahoma Policy Institute, said the measure would have been a blow to the only assistance available for many families, since most immigrants already can’t access public safety net programs.
“Whether an Oklahoma church or nonprofit chooses to open their food pantry to immigrant families or offer much-needed legal services is not the business of lawmakers or the government,” Ramirez-Perez said.
The next legislative deadline is April 9, when Senate bills and joint resolutions have to have passed House policy committees and appropriation subcommittees to survive.
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Maddy Keyes interned for The Frontier and then joined the outlet in 2024 after graduating from the University of Oklahoma. Email her at Maddy@readfrontier.com
