Safe Move Tulsa is a citywide, collaborative solution to address homelessness, encampments, and street sleeping in Tulsa.
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“Safe Move Tulsa is what happens when an entire city comes together to act—and deliver real results.”
Safe Move Tulsa brings public and private partners together around one goal: ending street homelessness.
Together, we’re taking action on homelessness. With a relentless focus on getting people off the streets, our multi-step plan makes shelters more efficient, provides the services people need to stabilize, and works to end street sleeping. We’re beginning by closing encampments and keeping them closed, with ongoing patrols and coordinated presence to maintain safety and prevent re-encampment.
We’re connecting people living in encampments to housing, services and treatment, and permanently closing those sites. After sites are restored, law enforcement will monitor former encampment sites and enforce no-trespass ordinances, freeing code enforcement to focus on neighborhood needs.
We’re strengthening the homeless system to move more people into stability faster. By connecting unsheltered Tulsans to the support they need and improving shelter operations, we’re able to free more beds for those in need.
We’re strategically coordinating and deepening partnerships across mental health care, housing, outreach, and public safety to build a stronger long-term system.
With help from the City of Tulsa, law enforcement, homeless outreach, and public safety partners, we’re preventing street sleeping and making sure encampments don't come back to alleviate the strain on local businesses and residents.
Safe Move Tulsa is accountable for getting results with our community’s investment in this initiative. We’ll share our progress here: from improving the homeless system to closing and cleaning encampments.
Our partners at A Way Home for Tulsa provide the support people need to get back into housing. Most just need a little one-time financial help, while others may need treatment, mental health care, job training, or rental support to stay stable.
Connected to housing & services
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Encampments closed
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Tons of trash cleared
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Safe Move Tulsa is a citywide initiative, with all partners working together to address homelessness in our community.
We’ve started with a focused effort to resolve encampments, chasing an initial goal of connecting 300 people to housing.
We start by helping 300 people who have been living on the streets long-term move into housing with the treatment and mental health support they need—while permanently closing encampments across the city.
At the same time, we launch new community-wide services in shelters that help 1,000 people return to housing quickly, before they become stuck in homelessness. This frees up shelter beds and keeps people from ending up back on the streets.
Fully Funded
We scale the system’s ability to provide one-time, low-cost interventions for people who recently became homeless, and we provide more intensive housing and case management for people who need deeper support to stabilize.
During this phase, we make sure shelters have the space and resources to quickly assist individuals to end their homelessness, so that fewer people end up sleeping outside or forming new encampments.
We also expand partnerships to connect people living on the streets with severe mental illness to the care they need—reducing cycles between the streets, shelters, and institutions.
Investment Needed
Finally, we lock in the funding, staffing, and partnerships needed to keep the system strong. This allows Tulsa to continue preventing street sleeping, keep shelters running efficiently, and respond quickly as new needs arise.
Annual Investment Needed
Starting in early 2025, leaders across the community came together to respond to street homelessness in a new way. From nonprofit service providers to the business community and philanthropy to local elected officials, each has played a role in setting the stage for action.
Now, Safe Move Tulsa is making bold strides, working collectively and quickly to respond to encampments, implement new solutions, and build a sustainable system that gets results.
2024
Tulsa's Housing, Homelessness, and Mental Health Task Force releases Path to Home Recommendations – including prioritizing the creation of a coordinated encampment decommissioning strategy.
Mar 2025
Mayor issues Executive Order establishing a coordinated approach to encampment resolution and unsheltered homelessness.
Mar – May 2025
The City of Tulsa develops encampment resolution policies and aligns partners across outreach, shelter, and services.
May – Aug 2025
Field testing begins to validate approach and identify operational gaps.
Jul – Aug 2025
Business community brings in national firm Clutch, known for implementing results oriented homeless strategies, to support data analysis and creating system vision to end street sleeping.
Aug 2025
Housing Solutions and Clutch analyze local homeless data, including yearly demand, current gaps, and mix of solutions to reach end to street sleeping, and plan to expand Safe Move Tulsa in partnership with the City.
Council approves $6 million for Safe Move Tulsa Phase 1.
Tulsa Leadership Council forms and commits to raising $4 million in private funding for Phase 1.
Sept 2025
Targeted encampment closures accelerate using the expanded model.
Oct 2025
$1 million in grant funding from The Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation to YWCA aligned to support Safe Move Tulsa.
Nov 2025
First encampment closes; two additional closures begin.
Nov 2025 – Present
Community leaders discuss ways to secure Phase 2 funding in 2026 to sustain progress as planned.
“At YWCA Tulsa, we see every day how powerful coordination can be. Safe Move Tulsa creates clearer pathways for people to move from homelessness toward stability by aligning providers, the city and community partners around shared goals. This level of coordination allows us to respond to immediate needs while also building long-term, sustainable housing solutions for our community.”
Julie Davis
CEO, YWCA Tulsa
“Safe Move Tulsa is one of the first times we’ve had every part of our community working from one playbook to move people from the street into stability. It’s a true community effort that reflects what Tulsans told us they want - compassion for our neighbors and accountability for our shared spaces. This work reflects our major commitments to end homelessness by 2030 and shows what it looks like to do this work the right way.”
Mayor Monroe Nichols
City of Tulsa
“Members of the Tulsa Leadership Council are encouraged to see that Mayor Nichols is prioritizing solutions that include both enforcement of laws and ordinances as well as providing treatment for those who need it. These challenges will require bold, coordinated strategies, and the Tulsa Leadership Council is committed to tackling these complicated issues head-on.”
Charlie Hannema
Tulsa Leadership Council Spokesman
