Q&A: Tulsa business owner supports homeless encampment sweeps — mayor pushes back

Some Tulsa business owners say they support Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Operation SAFE, which sent troopers to clear homeless encampments from state property near highways and overpasses. But Mayor Monroe Nichols says the state-led action is creating more problems than it solves.

News On 6’s MaKayla Glenn spoke with a local business owner and city leaders about the impacts.

Q: Why are some business owners supporting the governor’s plan?

A: Kim Freeman, co-owner of Salon on Harvard, says safety and sanitation are ongoing concerns for her employees and clients.

“We had a man and a woman set up an encampment just in our back parking lot, grocery carts, cardboard boxes, and they were sleeping out there,” Freeman said.

She added that the presence of encampments or stragglers has made customers uneasy, especially during early nightfall in the winter months.

Q: Does Freeman oppose helping the homeless?

A: Not at all. Freeman says she has compassion for the homeless community, but feels that allowing people to remain in unsafe conditions doesn’t help in the long run.

“I hope moving them helps them realize it’s not a sustainable lifestyle,” Freeman said.

Q: How does she feel about the city’s efforts?

A: Freeman acknowledges Mayor Nichols' long-term plans but says they don’t address immediate issues impacting her small business.

“It isn’t just affecting my small business, it’s affecting small businesses all over Tulsa,” Freeman said.

She praised Tulsa Police for being responsive and hopes the sweeps help ease the pressure on law enforcement.

Q: What is Mayor Monroe Nichols saying about the governor’s plan?

A: Mayor Nichols says Operation SAFE was launched without city input, and the sudden sweeps have disrupted efforts to get unhoused individuals into long-term housing and services.

“I am deeply committed to addressing this problem in a proactive way, one based on practice and evidence,” Nichols said.

He added that while progress takes time, it can’t be measured by viral videos or short-term visibility.

Q: What is Tulsa doing to fight homelessness?

A: The city is working on several long-term strategies, including a new initiative that will cover one year of rent for 300 individuals. Tulsa has also committed over $15 million to homelessness and mental health services over the next two years.

“Tulsa is not just a target,” Nichols said, “We want to be part of the broader solution.”

Q: What’s next?

Inside the City’s Bold Plans and Efforts to Tackle Homelessness with Deliberate, Thoughtful Solutions:

Given the recent encampment cleanup efforts by the State on State property in Tulsa, the City of Tulsa wants to remind Tulsans of the solutions and steps it is deploying to address homelessness in a holistic way citywide.

While encampment cleanups are a part of any homelessness diversion strategy, a formal decommissioning plan should consist of coordinated efforts with service and shelter providers surrounding housing needs, mental health services, and personal belongings. Plans should include the safe closure and ongoing monitoring efforts of the site, ensuring it is returned to its original land use. Such a plan in Tulsa is in the final development stages and is set to be announced in the coming weeks as part of the City’s Safe Move Tulsa initiative. Coordination and strategy for this plan began with the Path to Home Strategy that was launched in 2024 in coordination with the Tulsa City Council, and was the subject of the Mayor's executive order on homelessness in March. 

In addition to this work, the City has undergone the largest effort in its history to combat homelessness in recent years – with a laser focus over the past eight months to get many of its partnerships and funding mechanisms to a place that can start making a more immediate difference.

Currently, more than $15 million from one-time grants and other short-term funding mechanisms are dedicated solely to homelessness initiatives over the next two years – with additional funding dedicated to mental health and housing supports.

“We are committed to finding real solutions to the problems we have in front of us, and I’m confident in our ability to carry out our plans,” Mayor Nichols said. “Tulsans deserve to know just how hard their leaders are working - and their community is working - to address the challenge of homelessness in Tulsa, and I want to remind them of the incredible amount of work being put into this issue on a daily and hourly basis.”

Some of the most recent strides in the City’s effort to combat homelessness include:

1. The announcement of the City’s Safe Move Tulsa initiative;
2. The initiation of transportation services for homeless individuals from Downtown Tulsa to BeHeard (more than 1,200 rides since June 26); and
3. The signing of an executive order by Mayor Nichols in March making homelessness one of the top priorities for the City of Tulsa

Safe Move Tulsa

In August, City leaders and members of the Tulsa City Council approved a new Rehousing Program and the launch of the City's new Safe Move Tulsa Initiative. The nearly $6 million plan will to go toward a comprehensive Rehousing Plan to assist individuals with health care services, mental health assistance, addiction services, financial literacy services, rental assistance, and other wrap around supports. Once launched, 300 individuals will be on an individualized Rehousing Plan that provides support services for up to one year in the next nine months – which means there will be less unhoused individuals, more space in the shelters, and greater opportunities for success when formally decommissioning an encampment.

For more information, visit: www.cityoftulsa.org/SafeMove 

Path to Home Initiative

In 2024, the City and the Tulsa City Council launched a unified framework that consists of 33 action steps to address homelessness through housing, mental health and coordinated services. This initiative continues to be a guiding force for the City’s efforts, showcasing the following information and data:

1. 50+ programs, strategies, and/or staffing supports to address housing, homelessness and mental health in Tulsa;
2. 33 Action Steps from the 3H Task Force, all of which are either ongoing or complete;
3. Important resources for individuals experiencing homelessness; and
4. A comprehensive list of frequently asked questions about the City’s efforts 

As part of the initiative, multiple programs and resources are highlighted to show what the City is doing and how effective its measures have been. For example, just some of the following teams and resources are being utilized to combat homelessness at the intersection of housing and mental health:

1. Alternative Response Teams (ART-1 and ART-2) - Over the weekend, ART-2 expanded operations to seven days a week. The team is funded through $1.6 million over the next two years and is making an incredible impact by responding to emergency calls, outreach, and street-level engagement with those who are unhoused.
2. TPD’s Mental Health Unit and Community Response Team (CRT) – Together, these teams from the Tulsa Police Department work with service providers to decrease call volumes for high-utilizers of the 911 system and provide people with the support they need.
3. Additional staffing supports – The City now has a Homelessness Program Lead and Senior Advisor of Homelessness. These two positions focus the entirety of their work on addressing homelessness in Tulsa.
4. Emergency Temporary Housing - In 2023, the Council approved a $3.1 million for an Emergency Temporary Housing Program. The program is providing 50 units of temporary housing to help 100+ chronically unhoused individuals per year, while also providing them with supportive services with the goal of transitioning them to permanent housing.
5. 911 COPES Partnership - This new integration between COPES and 911 kicked off in July, and has had an immediate impact on our calls for service. In July alone, more than 3,000 calls were diverted from first responders, allowing public safety teams to more effectively do their jobs and respond to calls.

For more information about Path to Home and what the City is doing in regard to housing, homelessness and mental health, visit: www.cityoftulsa.org/PathToHome 

Some of the additional homelessness initiatives underway include:

Inclement Weather Shelter

The City of Tulsa is working to establish its first long-term, dedicated inclement weather shelter to protect unhoused individuals and those in unstable housing situations from inclement weather. This initiative was officially announced by Mayor Monroe Nichols in March 2025 as part of a larger executive order addressing homelessness. More information on the inclement weather shelter will be announced soon.

Low Barrier Shelter Space

Through an executive order issued in March, Mayor Nichols announced the intent to expand low-barrier space to provide immediate access to temporary housing and comprehensive support services for Tulsa’s most vulnerable unsheltered population. The City is currently exploring options for what this could look like in Tulsa. 

Improve Our Tulsa 3 & Housing Focus

Tulsans spent the most money in the city’s history specifically for housing in 2023 with the passage of Improve Our Tulsa 3. The $75 million in funding will help address Tulsa’s housing shortage, with $35 million to be available soon following the City’s recent selection of a fund administrator.

Updates on the City’s housing efforts can be found online at: https://www.cityoftulsa.org/press-room/city-takes-major-steps-forward-on-key-housing-initiatives/  

To view the City’s housing tracker, which currently shows nearly 950 units that have been permitted since Dec. 2, 2024, visit: http://www.cityoftulsa.org/housing 

A Better Way

The City’s panhandling diversion program, A Better Way, continues to offer a day’s wages for a day’s pay while connecting Tulsans to resources and opportunities. The program, operated in coordination with Mental Health Association of Oklahoma, served nearly 700 Tulsans in the last 12 months and continues to help clean up parks and other areas from trash and debris. During this time, more than 3,000 bags of trash were collected from Tulsa’s parks system alone.

Trash & Debris Pickup

City crews picked up more than 487 tons of trash and debris from Tulsa rights of way from July 2024 to July 2025. The effort is spearheaded by the City’s Asset Management and Public Works departments and focuses mainly on trash and debris collected from abandoned encampments and littered rights of way.

While these are the high-level efforts underway to reduce homelessness, there is so much work being done on a daily and hourly basis to get Tulsa to functional zero homelessness by 2030. 

To learn more about the Mayor’s goals regarding homelessness and how Tulsa can reach functional zero by 2030, visit: https://www.cityoftulsa.org/mayor/homelessness/ 

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