Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Operation SAFE launched a second round of homeless encampment sweeps in Tulsa over the weekend, putting service providers on edge once again.
Sarah Stewart, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, said state troopers are revisiting sites they cleared in September.
“Thirty-two of the 64 need additional remediation because items have been moved back in,” she told The Eagle Wednesday. “No arrests have been made.”
Once Operation SAFE wrapped in mid-September, Stitt said troopers removed nearly 2 million pounds of debris and they would “continue to monitor state property and will return to enforce state law if necessary.”
During a panel Wednesday, homeless service providers said people caught in the sweeps weren’t offered rides to shelter or jail — which is what the governor said would happen when the operation was announced.
“They’re put in this untenable position of grabbing what they can, so they’re not going to take the ride to the shelter or to another agency,” said Steve Whitaker of John 3:16 Mission, which operates a downtown shelter in addition to its main center, The Refuge.
Instead, most people left encampments on their own only to find shelters at capacity before returning to the streets, according to Josh Sanders with the Tulsa Day Center in downtown. Now, advocates are having to work to regain connections and trust.
“It’s the biggest thing we’ve lost,” Sanders said. “Our teams have been out in encampments. We’re finding new locations all the time. Services right now mean enforcement.”
But Whitaker said there has been a small silver lining as 60 people came to John 3:16 Mission to pick up a grab and go meal.
“About one-quarter of those have stayed and are going into programming and are seeking housing,” he said, describing it as a moment to “take lemons and make lemonade.”
