Deandre Evans has lived at the OU Motel for over five years. Like many of the people who have lived there long-term, he has rented a room month-to-month.
“To some people, it's their last place to come. Some people see it as like, you know, this is a crappy motel, blah, blah, blah. But some of us see it as home because we don't have anywhere else to go,” he said. “And with us not having anywhere to go, we made this our home and now we have to figure out where we're going to go from here. And that's what a lot of us are worried about.”
On Jan. 1, OU Motel renters were informed they would have to leave by the end of the month. This follows a years-long saga of potential buyers making plans for the property before ultimately backing out.
“A lot of places in Norman, they want you to make three times the rent — and being on disability, that's not really an option. I can't really work more to get more because I can't work, you know? So I'm kind of stuck with a fixed income. And to take that income and try to split it amongst all your bills, it's kind of hard,” Evans said.
There are 133,048 renter households in Oklahoma, or around 25%, that are considered extremely low income out of 518,633 total renter households across the state.
A report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition shows that 71% of extremely low income households are severely cost burdened based on U.S. Census data from 2022.
The majority of renters in extremely low income households are either in the labor force (36%), disabled (27%), or seniors (20%). However, these demographics aren’t always mutually exclusive; for example, renters can be students and disabled, or single caregivers and in the workforce.
April Dosier, the director of Norman nonprofit Food and Shelter, said Evans’ situation is that of many OU Motel renters. Many, like Evans, are on disability. Others are elderly, have poor rental history, or simply do not make enough money to afford rent elsewhere.
“We have been helping people kind of connect to little resources here and there to gather up the funds they need to get relocated. That's working for some people. But others, you know, they're not finding it quite as easy. I mean, for some folks, unfortunately, there just won't be a solution,” she said.
Dosier said the closure of OU Motel is just one example of affordable housing being replaced with student housing in Norman. She said another such case could be the Ray Apartments on Boyd Street, which the Norman City Council approved for redevelopment last year.
“I have great respect for students. I think the university is excellent for Norman. But there are consequences to those decisions. And many of the people living at Ray Apartments cannot afford to live anywhere else or they wouldn't be living there,” she said.
As for OU Motel, the buyer is Terry Moore, president of Dallas-based developer Garrett Moore Company. According to the company’s website, it plans to build a student housing complex including an indoor lazy river and a rooftop infinity pool.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines affordable housing as housing that costs no more than 30% of the occupant’s gross income, including utilities.
Renters who are spending over 30% on housing are defined as cost burdened; those spending more than half of their income are considered severely cost burdened, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
For the state of Oklahoma, 30% of the area median income is an estimated $613, which falls well below the fair market rent rate of $827 per month for a one-bedroom and $1,035 for a two bedroom.
In Cleveland County, where over a third of households are occupied by renters, the hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom at fair market rent is $20.98, which is among some of the highest in the state. The estimated average wage for a renter in Cleveland County, though, is $13.57.
Under the federal definition of affordable housing, the monthly rent that would be considered affordable at the average wage in Cleveland County is $705 per month.
With existing affordable housing in Norman disappearing, city leaders are looking for ways to create new affordable units. Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Tyler Holman said working with developers to take on projects like the Crimson Flats is one solution.
The building will be located at Imhoff Rd. and Oakhurst Ave. and will contain 75 units priced at no more than 30% of the tenant’s income. The project is expected to be complete in 2026.
“We can leverage federal funding like we did with the Crimson Flats project. We can look at city regulations, our code development policies, making sure that we're not being the cause of housing being more expensive to build in Norman or difficult or things like that. And doing things like reducing parking minimums, allowing accessory dwelling units,” he said.
In the meantime, OU motel property managers, who wished to stay anonymous, said the current property owners are giving the renters extra time to find somewhere else to go. While many people have already left, some — including Evans — still don’t know where they’re going next.
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