Oklahoma Gov. Dissolves Interagency Council On Homelessness, Homeless Alliance Expresses Disapproval

After 25 years, the governor disbanded the Interagency Council on Homelessness. Governor Kevin Stitt says he’s never seen a report from the council and wants to shift resources to mental health services and job creation.

“We've got to get control of our homelessness,” said Governor Stitt.

While he recognizes there’s a homelessness problem in the state, Governor Stitt says the Interagency Council on Homelessness wasn’t bringing any solutions.

“I've never seen a report from that commission. That thing has been in existence for over 25 years. We needed a fresh set of eyes on there, so some 25-year-old commission I didn't think was moving the needle on homelessness,” said Stitt.

The homeless alliance tells News 9 the council wasn’t state-funded and was created as a collaboration tool for state agencies to find solutions to the state’s homelessness problem. Meghan Muller with the homeless alliance says they were disappointed in the governor’s decision to disband the council.

“A good way to start bridging some of these gaps is interagency communication and broad collaboration that the GICH did bring to this state,” said Muller.

Governor Stitt says the focus needs to be shifted to mental health and job creation.

“People need jobs, they need the mental health that they need, there's the drug addiction,” said Stitt.

“We also know that mental health and substance abuse alone do not cause homelessness,” said Muller. “Homelessness is very complex; there's no one size fits all, there's no silver bullet.”

With skyrocketing rent prices especially in the metro, Muller says the focus needs to be on affordable housing.

“If you have a job and you can't find an affordable place to live, ultimately, you're still going to be on the streets. Ultimately the thing that ends homelessness is homes, its housing,” said Muller.

“Here's the deal: building housing and giving people free stuff is not the answer,” said Stitt.

Stitt pointed to other states that have implemented more affordable housing or providing hotel rooms for their homeless population, saying Oklahoma will not be like those states.

“We need to force these folks to get into mental health facilities. We're not going to allow tents, as long as I’m governor in Oklahoma, we're not going to build housing. We’re going to try to get them the help; get them the job that they need,” said Stitt.

“I would agree, I don't want to see tents on the street either. I believe that people deserve homes, people deserve the dignity of having a place to call home, and affordable housing is certainly the way to achieve that,” said Muller.

Muller says we're at a pivotal moment in the state- in dire need to find some kind of solution before Oklahoma is in a crisis situation.

“It's a community effort, it's going to take all of us working together to really move the needle on this issue, and that's something that the GICH has really facilitated over the last decade,” said Muller.

The Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), sent a letter to Governor Stitt, that letter can be read below.