Local Organizations Working To Find Solutions To Housing Shortage In Tulsa

Housing Solutions put out a housing assessment last year identifying a demand for nearly 13,000 new housing units over the next decade. PartnerTulsa said that the city of Tulsa is in need of 4,000 of the new housing units sooner rather than later.

These housing units could be anything from single family homes, to apartments, to duplexes for people of all income levels all over the city.

Kian Kamas, the executive director of PartnerTulsa, said the housing assessment looked at Tulsa's growth and the number of homes in the market as factors contributing to the housing shortage.

Some of the strategies to meet this demand include increasing funding for development, facilitating development, and changing policies at a city, state, and federal level.

"What the strategy recognizes and recommends is that city leaders put together a set of financial tools that can help support the cost of developing housing and provide support in particular for affordable housing, and making sure we can develop affordable housing in the community," Kamas said.

Kamas also said that developing more housing for Tulsa could have a positive impact on the community.

"If you don’t have a safe, quality, affordable home to come to at night, it’s really hard for kids to succeed in school. It's hard for you to be successful in your jobs. So this is an issue that affects every single Tulsan. And as I said, we see as a foundational economic development issue," Kamas said.

Kamas said the more housing units the city and PartnerTulsa can get online, the better they can address issues of housing insecurity and homelessness.