Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:10 a.m. Jan. 15 to include recent statements from Lisa Standridge about rewriting the bill.
A bill introduced in the state Legislature intends to terminate municipal services for people experiencing homelessness across the state will be rewritten following outcry over its possible effects.
Senate Bill 484, introduced by Sen. Lisa Standridge (R-Norman), would prevent municipalities with less than 300,000 residents from providing services to people experiencing homelessness. Oklahoma City and Tulsa are the only two cities in the state with more than the required number, meaning it could affect every other city in the state.
According to reporting by the Norman Transcript, Standridge said the first draft of the bill would have "unintended consequences" if passed as written because the current reading would possibly ban shelters for victims of domestic violence. Standridge said she plans to rewrite the bill in committee.
Municipalities that do not meet the population requirement must immediately terminate such services and cease land use for homeless shelters, according to the bill.
If passed, the bill would become effective on Nov. 1.
April Doshier, executive director of Food and Shelter, a nonprofit organization that provides housing and food services to Norman residents experiencing homelessness, said the organization would not be directly impacted by SB 484 because it is primarily privately funded. However, she said Food and Shelter receives some city funding, adding the bill would make operations for private organizations more difficult.
“Most dramatically, it would mean that city-funded operations like the overnight shelter would cease to exist, and that just means the work of organizations like Food and Shelter and our partners in the community is going to be that much harder,” Doshier said.
Doshier said Food and Shelter has also been working to determine housing relocations for occupants of the OU Motel, who have until Feb. 1 to vacate. The motel is often used by residents as a form of affordable housing.
“We have been in constant contact with those folks to see if we can get ahead of that Feb. 1 deadline and help them find new places to go. … We are out looking as creatively as possible at all of our housing, to see what might be available,” Doshier said. “The most devastating thing is these are folks that have lived there for a long period of time because it is literally all they can afford. It isn't that they've been so luxurious and wonderful; it's that that's all they can afford.”
In November, Norman City Council approved a contract with City Care Inc. to operate A Friend’s House, Norman’s emergency shelter, 5-4. At the meeting, council also voted to terminate its contract with Food and Shelter — the shelter’s original operator — effective Wednesday.
Doshier said Food and Shelter will cease operations on Wednesday morning. She said she is devastated at the state of homelessness in Norman, believing contributors must work together in order to combat homelessness.
“Most of the time, (people experiencing homelessness) are here just because they didn't have enough money, and to continually punish people already living the worst days of their lives feels just unnecessarily cruel,” Doshier said. “I really believe if everybody does their part — the city, the county, the state, faith organizations, private people organizations like Food and Shelter — we can really take the steps we know we need to be taking. We know what we need to do, we just have to be brave enough to do it.”
This story was edited by Ana Barboza, Anusha Fathepure and Ismael Lele. Andrew Paredes and Avery Avery copy edited this story.
