New Overnight Shelter Opens In Oklahoma City

City Care's new overnight homeless shelter officially opened its doors in Oklahoma City Tuesday.

The facility, located just south of Northwest 10th and Villa Avenue, will add 140 beds for the community and is considered a low-barrier shelter.

"That is basically available to anybody," Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said. "Regardless of whether they're interested in going through a program, regardless of whether they have a pet, whether they have a lot of stuff."

According to a recent report, executives with the Homeless Alliance said there are a list of reasons people won't stay at a shelter, including restrictions on pets. City Care believes limiting these barriers will help people find the space they need.

"All we want to do is begin that process," City Care CEO Adam Luck said. "Give a little bit of margin so we can stop thinking about where am I going to stay tonight? Where am I going to get my next meal?"

Though this new facility is a step in the right direction, the report states advocates believe there are still not enough resources to address the issue of homelessness in Oklahoma City.

"What we found over the last several years was that visible homelessness was growing," Holt said. "Not necessarily the overall population, but we were having more unsheltered homeless."

In January of 2020, it was reported that out of the over 1,500 countable people who were experiencing homelessness in the city, 35% were unsheltered.

"Just from 2017 to 2020, we've seen a 92 percent increase in Oklahoma City for the number of individuals living unsheltered," Luck said.

The new City Care facility will hold 96 beds for men, 28 for women, and 16 split between four family suites.

The shelter will open at 4:30 each day for families with children and 6 for individual adults.