Gov. Stitt authorizes Operation SAFE to clear homeless encampments in Oklahoma City

Gov. Kevin Stitt’s efforts to clean up homeless encampments are now being carried out in Oklahoma City, this time in partnership with the city’s Key to Home program. 

In a news release late Monday, Stitt announced the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation had begun clean ups of encampments on state property. 

The operation first started in Tulsa in September. Stitt said it is a state initiative to “restore safety and cleanliness by removing homeless encampments, trash, and debris from state-owned property.” According to the news release, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol has legal authority to target state-owned property including underpasses, highways, state buildings, and other state-controlled land. 

State troopers cleaned out at least three homeless encampments on the first day of Stitt’s program to keep unhoused people from camping on state property in Oklahoma City.

Troopers cleaned out the bridges under Interstate 235 on 23rd Street and Reno Avenue. They also cleaned out Interstate 40 from Meridian Avenue to MacArthur Boulevard as a part of Operation SAFE, said Abegail Cave, the communications director in Stitt’s office.

Stitt said Operation SAFE was succcessful in Tulsa and that business leaders and stakeholders quickly requested the state do the same in Oklahoma City.  

“The state is doing its job, and just like in Tulsa, it’s the role of the city and non-profits to ensure Oklahoma City stays clean and safe for all residents,” Stitt said in the news release.  

Oklahoma partners with Key to Home for Operation SAFE in OKC

According to the news release, the state is partnering with Key to Home, a program that helps connect people to shelter, treatment and housing. Currently, Key to Home’s Encampment Rehousing Initiative has helped nearly 450 people transition from unsheltered homelessness into housing with supportive services. The program’s goal is to rehouse at least 500 people by the end of 2025. 

Homeless Strategy Implementation Manager Jamie Caves said the state approached them about addressing encampments on state property and their program was already in place to offer a solution.  

“We’ve worked hard to coordinate efforts more effectively and create a streamlined pathway to restoration for our neighbors who are sleeping outside,” Caves said.  

Holt appreciates the collaboration between state and city

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said the city is grateful for any opportunity to collaborate with property owners and demonstrate Key to Home’s continued effectiveness. The program is a major reason why the unsheltered homeless population has declined four years in a row, he added.  

“As a property owner in our city, the state government reached out to local authorities in the last few weeks and requested collaboration in addressing homelessness on their state-owned property in Oklahoma City,” Holt said via text to The Oklahoman. “State-owned property is obviously a very limited subset of Oklahoma City’s land mass, so the work of Key to Home will continue long past today.” 

Collaboration is the preferred response from the state government on addressing homeless. Moving people from one side of the street to the other is good for the property owner, but it doesn’t do anything for the community because it doesn’t reduce homelessness, Holt said. 

The approach of using an existing program that has had success accomplishes the property owner’s goal of clearing their property and reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness, he added.  

“The state collaborating with us was a good move, if for no other reason than it took advantage of an existing, proven program,” Holt said.  

Operation SAFE repeats efforts in Oklahoma City

In Tulsa, where Stitt first launched the program, it drew the ire of advocates for unhoused people and local officials. Advocates said the program did nothing to help people who are homeless. It simply moved them from one place to the next.

Although Oklahoma Highway Patrol officials said they had no plans to bring the program to Oklahoma City, Cave said that changed when business owners reached out to Stitt in the wake of the cleanout in Tulsa. Those business leaders recommended that Stitt work with Key to Home.

“People asked, and people were willing to step up and help,” Cave said. “We were inclined to do that.”

Key to Home has been working with the capital city since 2023, when they launched their partnership to reduce unsheltered homelessness.

Cave said she does not support efforts that might criminalize homelessness.

Key to Home staff members alerted people in Oklahoma City encampments about state troopers’ plan to clear them out, Cave said. She said the plan came together in the last two weeks.

What happened with Operation SAFE in Tulsa?

The effort lasted 12 days and ended Sept. 17, after Stitt said troopers removed people from 64 encampments.

Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols said the removals have done little to address the root causes of homelessness. The efforts have also drawn comparisons to President Donald Trump’s actions in Washington, D.C.

Beth Edwards Svetlic, assistant executive director at Youth Services of Tulsa, said she has received reports that in the push to move people from their encampments, people have lost vital documents, IDs and prescriptions. She said the actions have created an atmosphere of unease among people who are homeless. Her group helps young people who are homeless.

This story has been updated to add new information.