Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, was one of 24 legislators and legislative staff selected for the 2025 National Conference of State Legislatures Youth Homelessness Fellows Program.
The program brings together lawmakers from across the country to learn about youth homelessness and discuss strategies for addressing the issue. Pae attended meetings on understanding and addressing youth homelessness in Minneapolis in June.
The Frontier sat down with Pae to talk about what he’s learned so far and what his goals are for addressing youth homelessness in Oklahoma. The Frontier previously reported on how unaccompanied youth homelessness has grown by nearly 40% in Oklahoma over the past five years, but there is a lack of resources and funding to address the problem.
Some responses have been edited for length and clarity.
The Frontier: When did you first become interested in the issue of youth homelessness? Why are you passionate about this topic?
Pae: Housing in general has always interested me, just because I hope to be a homeowner one day. I’m a renter right now. I think most of us in the millennial and Gen Z generations are in that category, because the cost of living is very high across the country right now with inflation. You look at the past few years, all sorts of things are impacting the economy, and that’s impacting a lot of folks who can no longer afford to live in their house or apartment. It really breaks my heart that this also impacts kids and people who are still just trying to get by in school on top of being worried about if they’re going to have a bed to sleep in.
This shouldn’t be an issue in the United States of America, but it is. And hearing directly from constituents who work in this field also made me realize this is an important issue to prioritize.
The Frontier: Last month you participated in the first few days of the program. What were your main takeaways?
Pae: Number one, that this issue of youth homelessness is not just isolated to one part of the country or just in urban America. It’s prevalent everywhere.
And, second, that’s why it’s not just a matter of funding. I think it’s also about the laws that we have on the books, how can we encourage more public private partnerships? That’s what we heard … in the State of the City address here in Oklahoma City. There’s tremendous work being done in that respect. I would like to see that more replicated across Oklahoma, because there’s only so much the government can do. There’s only so much that the nonprofit sector can do. But working together in concert, I think we have a lot of potential there.
And then finally, I would say in terms of the federal level, there is a lot of uncertainty right now. We had the recent reconciliation bill become law that will affect the Medicaid program, that will affect SNAP, which is directly under my committee’s purview. And so we’ll have to make some tough decisions in the next few years. And my concern is that that will impact a lot of these programs and initiatives that do help address youth homelessness. And that will be incumbent upon me and the rest of my colleagues to make sure that if a program is successful and effective, that we don’t impact how it’s being operated, because then we’ll be two steps back, and that’s not a good thing.
The Frontier: Have you learned about any strategies for addressing youth homelessness that you hope to implement in Oklahoma?
Pae: My interim studies (are) pending approval from the Speaker’s office, but number three is on this particular topic. The Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth, they’d already been interested in doing a deep dive this fall, and so I think the timing worked out that I’m part of this fellowship. And the (fellowship) meeting in Kansas City will be before this interim study takes place, so I think I’ll have a better understanding at that point about what can be done.
But I know one particular issue that the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth brought up is access to early childhood programs. With homeless youth, how can we make sure that opportunity is afforded to them? Because I do believe that if you try to be proactive and invest in these types of opportunities for these young people, I think that will pay off in the long run. If you simply ignore them and think everything is going to be okay and fine and dandy, that’s not going to get us anywhere.
That’s why I hope to explore more and figure out early childhood programs, access to basic necessities, making sure they complete their high school education, things like that. That’s what I want to focus on.
The Frontier: What do you think needs to happen in Oklahoma to prevent youth from experiencing homelessness? Or to ensure any experience with homelessness is brief and nonrecurring?
Pae: I think that right there at the end, that should be the ultimate goal — brief and not recurring. And so I think it’ll take the government partnering with our friends in the nonprofit sector and the private sector and making sure that we’re not operating in silos and we’re all communicating with each other.
Just down the street you have (the youth shelter) Pivot. I think they’re a fantastic example of achieving that end goal and trying to encourage people in the community in general, that if you have that strong desire to volunteer, to contribute however you see fit to help this particular demographic, do so. It’s going to take all of us to be very proactive in making sure that we’re earnestly addressing this from all the different walks of life.
If we do that, in addition to funding opportunities for these programs and initiatives and working with our members of Congress on things like fine tuning the definition of youth homelessness, I think we’ll be in a better place.
The Frontier: Going forward, what are your goals for addressing youth homelessness in Oklahoma?
Pae: I think specifically through our committee, if the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth identifies a program or initiative that ought to be bolstered, that’s something that we’ll take a look at. This is just spitballing here, but I know the idea of a compact has been utilized in other policy areas, and so if there’s a way for, perhaps, a Southwest compact (to be created) to help address youth homelessness, where we’re collaborating throughout our region — again, going back to the point about making sure we’re pulling our resources together and not trying to be divided — I think that’s something I would like us to explore. I think there’s a lot of possibilities there.
The Frontier: Do you think there’s a need for more resources in Oklahoma for youth who are experiencing homelessness?
Pae: Oh, absolutely. When you look at the state of our economy, look at food deserts and just the economic disparities between urban Oklahoma and rural Oklahoma, especially in certain parts of our state, there is absolutely that need. For me, growing up in Lawton, which is more urban but still outside the metro areas, I’ve seen both perspectives, and I understand that you cannot just focus on one over the other. You have to holistically address this issue. And if there is any young person experiencing homelessness throughout the state of Oklahoma, we ought to make sure we’re taking care of them.
The Frontier: Do you plan to speak with youth who have lived experience with homelessness to help inform your policy?
Pae: I would like to, yes. And with the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth, as we work together on this interim study, that’s one thing that I’ll make sure they emphasize. I’ve had the opportunity to listen to a few of those personal testimonies over the years, and it’s very powerful. It gives you hope, and it certainly makes you realize that what we do up here (at the Capitol) has a direct impact on people’s lives. So I would hope that they can be part of the interim study.
The Frontier: Why do you think people should care about the issue of youth homelessness?
Pae: The expression goes, “Young people are our future.” There’s tremendous possibilities with what can be done when it comes to the rising generation. I’m a millennial, but I know we’re now at Generation Alpha, and so to think that for some of these folks, they don’t have that opportunity to be successful because of struggling with homelessness, that motivates me more to make sure that we get it right, because the more that we invest on the front end to help these folks, the better off we are as a society in the long run. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue. Homelessness affects everyone, and youth homelessness especially, that’s something that should transcend partisan politics.
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