Norman City Council Looks Into Barriers Homeless Population Faces In The City

The Norman City Council is taking a deeper look at the barriers affecting people experiencing homelessness.  

According to the $100,000 study from the non-profit Homebase, opportunities for safe and affordable housing include finding landlords willing to rent to people emerging from homelessness, removing barriers from housing and offering affordable housing for people with a criminal background. 

The study also found Norman needs better overall homeless outreach and more engagement with businesses and organizations in the community 

Much of the city council says these are needs they already knew about. 

"Definitely a lot to chew on, I'm not sure if any of it was really surprising. We know we need affordable housing," said Norman Mayor Breea Clark. 

Oklahoma City is also rolling out its first major plan in 17 years to address homelessness. 

Solutions include more case workers and changes in zoning ordinances that will help set aside a certain number of affordable housing units. 

In Oklahoma City, they're modeling plans off similar programs in Houston which helped reduce the homeless population there.