More families and unaccompanied youth are experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma City now than at any other point in the past two decades, according to newly released figures.
Though the city’s overall homelessness saw a small decline this year, unaccompanied youth and family homelessness grew by 11% and 5% respectively and are both the highest they’ve been since at least 2005, based on available federal data.
Rising costs, limited affordable housing and ongoing economic pressures are pushing families to a crisis point, said Jamie Caves during the State of Homelessness Address earlier this month. Caves is the strategy implementation manager for the Oklahoma City partnership organization Key to Home, which facilitates the Point-in-Time Count.
A person making minimum wage would have to work 116 hours a week to afford an average two-bedroom apartment in Oklahoma, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
“We can’t alone fix the systemic, macro-level conditions that are contributing to family homelessness, but we can design a system that provides efficient, streamlined pathways back to housing and stability for families, and that work is underway as we speak,” Caves said.
Counting the unhoused
Volunteers counted 1,867 unhoused people throughout the city earlier this year for the Point-in-Time Count, which the federal government requires cities to conduct to receive certain federal funding for homeless services.
In the predawn hours of a cold January morning, volunteers spread out across Oklahoma City to search street-by-street for people sleeping outside.
Weather forecasters predicted below-freezing temperatures and up to a foot of snow on the day of this year’s count of the city’s homeless population. Volunteers encountered one man who’d lost three toes to frostbite in a previous winter storm.
“I know the shelter is active and it’s going to be over capacity, but it’s life-saving measures, seriously,” a volunteer urged a mother and her adult son who were sleeping on a sidewalk. “Please consider going.”
Over 400 people were sleeping outdoors, including 13 youth under age 25. At least one family with minor children was sleeping outside in the winter cold, with 119 other families staying in shelters.
Some people slept in tents next to small, contained fires they’d built to stay warm; Others wrapped themselves in sleeping bags and blankets as they laid on park benches or sidewalks. Most emergency shelters in the city were at or near capacity on the night of the count. Some, including City Rescue Mission and the Homeless Alliance, squeezed sleeping mats in the lobby and hallways to make room for more people during the winter storm.
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There were slightly fewer people unsheltered during this count compared to last year. But the number of people experiencing chronic unsheltered homelessness — when a person with a disabling condition has been unhoused and sleeping outdoors for long periods of time — is up 20% from 2025.
Volunteers encountered people who have experienced homelessness for years. One man spoke to volunteers through the flap of his tent, unable to move because he was missing both of his feet. He’d been unhoused for 14 months.
The workers handed out bus passes and handwarmers as they surveyed those sleeping outdoors and warned them about the impending weather. The count helps local service providers to better understand community needs and plan future programs. This year, it was also a chance to potentially save lives.
“I’m glad we’re out just before the storm,” said one volunteer. She said one woman she encountered at a bus stop didn’t know there was going to be any snow.
Fifty-five percent of those surveyed who were sleeping outdoors this winter said they were experiencing homelessness for the first time. Money issues, job loss and personal relationship conflicts were some of their primary catalysts into homelessness. About 70% of people surveyed said they became homeless in Oklahoma City, according to a Key to Home spokesperson.
Youth and family homelessness grow
This year’s count identified a growing number of unhoused unaccompanied youth under age 24. Volunteers identified 181 young people experiencing homelessness without a parent or guardian, which is 18 more youth than last year.
Youth homelessness in the city is the highest it’s been in documented history, according to available federal data. But the population can be hard to track and the coronavirus pandemic impacted data collection in 2021. Between 2018 and 2026 alone, unaccompanied youth homelessness more than tripled in the state.
It’s hard to count youth experiencing homelessness because they tend to stay hidden to avoid interactions with law enforcement or child welfare workers, Caves said. During the 2024-25 school year, Oklahoma City schools alone found more than 1,200 youth without stable, adequate housing, most of whom were staying with another family or bouncing between friends’ couches.
There’s a lack of funding and housing resources for youth, The Frontier previously reported. And most youth lacking stable and adequate housing don’t qualify for many of the federal housing services available.
Rachel Bradley, executive director of Sisu Youth Services in Oklahoma City, said the state needs to improve and invest in schools and public infrastructure — systems she says currently “are not working.” Sisu only receives a small amount of its funding from the state, with most of the organization’s funding coming from federal grants. Additional state investments would also help service providers tackle homelessness on the front end, Bradley said.
The youth shelter is continuing to see more young people seek its services, Bradley said. On the night before the count, 33 youth slept on the shelter’s trundle beds and in the dorm-style rooms reserved for longer shelter stays.
Expanded shelter capacity has allowed youth service providers to identify more young people who are experiencing homelessness in the city in recent years, Bradley said.
The number of families experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma City also spiked this year after steadily growing by 71% since 2022. This tracks with national trends. Across the U.S., unhoused people in families with children increased by 61% between 2022 and 2024.
Local shelters City Rescue Mission and City Care were each awarded a $2.5 million grant from the Day 1 Families Fund created by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez Bezos for unhoused families over the next five years.
Positive trends and the work ahead
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt credits the work of local service providers for the nearly 1% overall decline in homelessness this year, even as the city’s general population grows. Since its launch in 2023, the Oklahoma City program Key to Home has housed 513 people. And at least 27 people were placed in housing paid for by the state.
Hundreds more have been housed by local shelters The Homeless Alliance, City Rescue Mission and City Care. The number of people sleeping outside has dropped by nearly 13% since 2022, according to the 2026 report.
“The 2026 Point-in-Time Count is yet another data point telling us that not only are we on the right track, but we are actually beginning to turn the tide,” Holt said during the State of Homelessness Address.
Key to Home is expanding its initiatives to rehouse more people who are currently staying in homeless shelters for long periods of time. During the event, Caves also announced a new team of outreach workers, crisis responders and mental and physical health providers who will work to rehouse people with complex mental and behavioral health needs.
As providers look to address chronic homelessness, efforts are also being bolstered around early intervention to prevent people from entering homelessness altogether or ensuring their experience with homelessness is brief.
Key to Home launched a diversion program last year to prevent people from entering homelessness by offering one-time payments for things like missed utility bills or car repairs.
“Every person who finds a safe alternative to a long shelter stay is one fewer person seeking help from an already strained shelter system, freeing up that capacity for the most vulnerable individuals and families to be able to access that help,” Caves said.
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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
