• Read more: Tulsa Regional Chamber begins Intercity Visit in Salt Lake City
• Read more: Public safety discussion highlights Day Two programming at Intercity Visit in Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY – Establishing firm boundaries and holding people accountable are cornerstones to mitigating homelessness, two Utah experts on the subject told a Tulsa Regional Chamber Intercity Visit audience on Wednesday.

“We take the approach that -- and we’re very candid with our clients – that we’re not going to work harder on fixing homelessness than they are willing to help themselves,” said Chris Rogers, COO of Switchpoint, a nonprofit solutions provider for the homeless in Utah. “Our motto is ‘We’re giving a hand up, not a handout.’ We set high expectations.

“What we’ve found is that having a high barrier to entry is setting greater safety and a sense of belonging for them as a community.”

Rogers was part of a panel discussion that discussed homelessness at the three-day Intercity Visit, which concluded Wednesday in Salt Lake City.

About 125 people from northeast Oklahoma – including city and county elected officials, business leaders, regional partners, education administrators and young professionals – participated in the three-day event, the 16th in an annual Chamber series that travels to peer cities to learn best practices.

Chamber Chair Bill Knight, who is working closely with the City of Tulsa and Mayor Monroe Nichols on homelessness solutions, moderated the panel. 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.
Sharing the panel stage Wednesday with Knight and Rogers were Andrew Johnston, director of homeless policy and outreach for Salt Lake City, and Moe Egan, director of recruitment for The Other Side Village, a master plan community in Salt Lake City for people who struggle with chronic homelessness.

Egan said he smoked crack and heroin for 20 years and was unhoused for 10 before getting his life back together at California’s Delancey Street, a leading residential self-help organization for former substance abusers and ex-convicts.

The Other Side Village is modeled after Delancey.

“I’ve sat across the table with case managers, therapists and clinicians, and the dynamic was ‘I’m sitting across this table. I’m here to try to fix you,’” Egan said. “I could never relate to that dynamic.”
“But if you put somebody across from me who was a drug addict, was a chronic alcoholic and got to the other side, that person I could relate to.”

“Before people are eligible to get into one of the Village’s cottage homes, they must attend a homelessness prep school for at least six months,” Egan said.

“The elephant in the room is always going to be, is the person ready?” he said. “We can offer them the world. But if they are not ready, it’s never going to work. What’s different with our organization is that it’s not a 30-, 60-, 90-day. It’s not a quick fix. It’s a minimum of a year or two just to get stabilized back in your life.

“We’re going to become friends. We’re going to build trust. It’s not a once-a-week meeting with a case manager…One of the things we do differently is that our entire staff is folks with lived experience.”

Both Switchpoint and The Other Side Village, through its sister organization The Other Side Academy, develop “micro-enterprises” to sharpen residents’ entrepreneurial skills. Those businesses include a doggy day care, moving companies, thrift stores and a greenhouse.

Nichols gave a brief address at Wednesday’s Intercity Visit session, which included breakouts on housing and a conversation with Tulsa City Councilor Carol Bush and Salt Lake City Councilor Alejandro Puy.

“These trips are certainly filled with good times, but they are really a good opportunity for us to learn from other communities,” Nichols said. “They also are a good opportunity for us to recognize the progress that we’ve made in Tulsa.

“I spend probably far too much of my time talking about the challenges that we face. You have to keep your eyes focused on those things. But I don’t spend enough time – I don’t think any of us do – talking about how we may just be a cut-above other communities.”

All told, the 2025 Intercity Visit featured seven panel discussions and four speakers, with dialogues covering topics that included economic development, tourism, infrastructure and public safety.

Attendees also visited a couple of marquee venues, including the historic Clubhouse, which began as the Ladies’ Literary Club in 1913, and Utah Olympic Park, the centerpiece of the 2002 Winter Olympics, which Salt Lake City will host again in 2034.

“Over the past 16 years, the Tulsa Regional Chamber's Intercity Visits have proven to be invaluable for collecting inspiration and discovering ways to execute ideas,” said Mike Neal, president and CEO of the Tulsa Regional Chamber. “This year was no different. We want to thank the thought leaders of Salt Lake City for sharing their roadmaps to success and being transparent about potential challenges. Thanks, as well, to our attendees for their commitment to making the Tulsa area an even better place to live, work, play and visit.”

To read more about the key takeaways from past trips, click here.

 

 

 

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