At the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s Executive Committee Meeting on Monday, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols outlined several measures the city has taken to combat homelessness and increase public safety. 

Bill Knight, 2025 Chamber chair, facilitated a dialogue on those subjects with the mayor, whose office has been addressing a recent spate of gun violence, including the shooting death of a 22-year-old man during Tulsa’s annual Juneteenth celebration. 

The Tulsa City Council voted 7-1 on June 25 to impose a 9 p.m. to 6 p.m. curfew for those younger than 18 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. 

To improve public safety, Nichols said the city has increased citizen contacts. Also, Tulsa police more than a month ago created a unit to chase down illegal guns and crack down on out-of-control Airbnb parties, the mayor said. 

“We have, in five weeks, taken I think 134 guns out of hands of folks who shouldn’t have them,” he said. “So, it’s been a pretty dramatic drop.”

To reduce loitering around the MetroLink bus station at 319 S. Denver Ave., city officials have begun a “beautification” project involving the installation of boulders along a sidewalk adjacent to the station. They also have started providing transportation for the homeless to BeHeard, a mobile homelessness outreach program at 7216 E. Admiral Place. 

A nonprofit established in 2020, BeHeard offers showers, haircuts and services such as laundry. 

“They are able to get a shower, wash their clothes,” Nichols said. “There are outreach workers there. We are helping them staff up.” 

The mayor reiterated that dispersing lingerers at the MetroLink site is a priority. 

“The bus station is not a shelter,” he said. “Essentially, our policy as an administration has been that once we have an alternative, we can’t have people hanging around there, anymore. That’s one of the reasons we’re trying to be so aggressive about finding places for people because we have an obligation to do that.” 

“BeHeard is a good organization. Folks can get what they need. It’s a really good alternative.” 

Knight said he’s aware of several local business owners and workers who have been harassed or accosted while walking downtown. 

“The level of frustration is at an all-time high,” he said. “So, the level of wanting to do something is at an all-time high.” 

To that end, Knight said, there is “real momentum” from those affected to hire Clutch Consulting Group, which has worked to reduce homelessness in cities such as Houston, Dallas, Denver and Oklahoma City. 

“On average, from date of intervention to solution, is somewhere around 220 days,” Knight said of the window of connecting the homeless to the housing and care they need. “They (Clutch officials) believe it should be 11. So, it’s not about building more facilities; it’s using the facilities that you have more efficiently.” 

“…It appears to be a very prescriptive circle. You have to get them off the street into the shelter, into the house or reunited with their family where they came from.” 

Tulsa’s last Point-in-Time (PIT) count of the homeless numbered close to 1,500, Nichols said, with 500 of those people sleeping outside every day. 

The mayor has committed to achieving “functional zero homelessness” by 2030, meaning homelessness will be “rare, brief and non-recurring.” Among his goals are reducing the city’s eviction rate, creating a system of mental and substance abuse supports and ensuring an adequate, low-barrier shelter. 

But much of his mission is centered on a new mindset, he said. 

“We’re already thinking about how do we as a city begin to invest in things that we just haven’t ever invested in?” Nichols said. “I think that’s the other big problem. The city has not been a place where big dollars have been spent to address homelessness.” 

“That’s not a criticism of anybody who came before me. It is literally the reason every major city in the country is dealing with this; none of them were set up to deal with homelessness. The thought was for a long time was that it was about soup kitchens and clothes, that kind of stuff. Now, it’s a lot different. It’s a public policy challenge."