As many as 150 people could lose housing in Oklahoma City under new federal guidelines about how to use homelessness assistance funds, local officials say.
The new rules come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and represent a major change in how the federal government funds homeless outreach, limiting providers' ability to maintain permanent and rapid rehousing programs already in place.
"This [notice] represents one of the most significant shifts in federal guidance on homelessness in a decade," said Jamie Caves, the strategy implementation manager for Key to Home, a public-private partnership that oversees the city's network of homeless service providers.
People currently in permanent housing will no longer be eligible for support from federal funds, Caves said.
"You have to have a disability to qualify for a permanent supportive housing project," she said. "This says that substance use is no longer a disabling condition."
Caves said the approximately 150 people who fall into that category are a priority, and the city will have to find a new way to pay for their support so they don't fall back into homelessness.
The new guidelines also represent a national shift away from the "housing first" model, which places people in stable housing without sobriety, treatment or employment requirements. Instead, the rules steer funding toward more service-heavy, time-limited transitional housing programs that may include sobriety expectations and other participation requirements.
For more than a decade, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has prioritized housing-first efforts, but the Trump administration has now turned away from the strategy.
In July, Trump issued an executive order called "Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets." The order included a provision to end housing first policies that "deprioritize accountability and fail to promote treatment, recovery, and self-sufficiency."
Next year, only 30% of the approximately $3.9 billion HUD plans to provide for homeless services in 2026 can go toward permanent housing. Caves said 77% of Key to Home's $7.36 million in HUD funds went to permanent housing initiatives last year.
"It's going to take some time to rethink program design, funding strategies and service delivery across our partnership and homelessness response system in Oklahoma City," Caves said.
Caves said Key to Home doesn't have much time to submit a funding request under the new guidelines. The grant announcement was delayed by the federal shutdown, giving providers only a couple of months to submit proposals that meet the required priority changes.
"Regardless of your opinion about the priorities, this is a heavy lift for providers and for our community to make these adjustments in a pretty quick timeline," Caves said. "There is a lot of pressure in the community to move the needle on the number of people that are experiencing homelessness, and without the tools and supports being incredibly stable for that work, it's just an additional challenge."
Historically, each continuum of care was guaranteed to receive 90% of the HUD funding they were awarded the previous year. Beginning in 2026, the guaranteed percentage also falls to 30%.
But Caves said she is optimistic the partnership will remain a competitive applicant because the city already prioritizes strategies outlined in the new funding guidelines, like collaboration with law enforcement.
"We've been partnering with the homeless outreach team with the Oklahoma City Police Department for many years. They're embedded in my office," she said. "And we've been refining our community's street-to-housing pathway through the Encampment Rehousing Initiative for the last two years."
Still, the potential loss of funding for the housing-first strategy stings given its effectiveness in Oklahoma City. Caves said of the people helped so far, only about 11% have gone back to experiencing homelessness.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
