Oklahoma Academy Releases Guidelines To Build More Affordable Housing

Almost 70 percent of young adults have a harder time buying a home than their parents did according to the Oklahoma Academy.

The Oklahoma Academy is bringing people together to brainstorm solutions. They held a town hall and citizens created guidelines to build more affordable housing. “There’s huge instability in housing here,” said Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City.  

Julie Knutson is the president and CEO of the Oklahoma Academy. “We focus on the major public policy issues that affect all Oklahomans,” Knutson said. Since 1967, the Oklahoma Academy has listened to Oklahomans to understand state issues. “Housing just kept coming up time, time, time, and time again,” Knutson said. 

This year, its board chose affordable housing for its annual town hall. “What comes out of that town hall is purely what the participants create,” Knutson said. 

About 150 participants, from lawmakers to average citizens, banded together. “I think oftentimes they feel they don’t have a voice,” Knutson said. 

This collaboration made guidelines for creating affordable housing. Some of their priorities include increased funding for affordable housing. “It’s a public-private partnership endeavor,” Knutson said. 

Other recommendations include community flexibility and eliminating NIMBYism, or “not in my back yard”, and making it easier to zone new projects. “Work together as a community and put in place some zoning that does allow these residences to be built,” Knutson said. 

Lawmakers like Kirt want to address housing with policy.  “I had great conversations with my colleagues – bipartisan conversations about affordable housing,” Kirt said. 

The real action, Knutson said, begins with conversations and listening ears. “We can come together and find a way to make it work,” Knutson said. 

Several years ago, MAPS 4 in Oklahoma City decided to fund housing for the unsheltered population. A motel near Bricktown will soon provide a home for a vulnerable population.