Tulsa’s First Winter Weather Shelter Served 632 People in 2025-2026 Winter Season

Tulsa's First Winter Weather Shelter Served 632 People in 2025-2026 Winter Season

3/27/2026

Individuals Continue to Receive Case Management, Supportive Services Following March Closure

This winter, the City of Tulsa successfully opened its first Winter Weather Shelter, which provided safe, warm spaces for more than 632 people.

The shelter was part of a coordinated effort to ensure that residents experiencing homelessness had access to life-saving resources when they needed it most.

The Need for A Winter Weather Shelter
Shortly after Mayor Monroe Nichols took office, the City faced the challenge of organizing shelter services during extreme weather events. In March 2025, the mayor issued an executive order prioritizing homelessness as a city, signaling a new directive to create a winter weather shelter, expand shelter capacity, create an encampment decommissioning strategy, and focus on eviction mitigation - all with a goal to move Tulsa toward functional zero homelessness by 2030.

Since that time, the City of Tulsa has made significant progress on all of those fronts, including the successful opening of a winter weather shelter, the launch of Tulsa's Safe Move Tulsa strategy, significant progress toward the opening of a low-barrier shelter, and the continued meeting of Tulsa's Coalition on Eviction Mitigation.

"Last March, I promised we would put a focus on homelessness as a city and get a winter shelter operational by this last winter season - and we did just that," Mayor Nichols said. "I couldn't be more thankful for CREOKS and for the many people and organizations who made it successful. While there's so much more to do around our work to improve outcomes for all Tulsans, this community effort is something we can all be proud of."

Winter Weather Shelter: By the Numbers
Operated by CREOKS, the Winter Weather Shelter served 632 individuals in 553 households, including 234 people experiencing chronic homelessness, 59 seniors and 21 veterans. Many individuals also had disabilities, highlighting the critical need for supportive services. As shelter operations started to wind down earlier this month due to higher-than-normal temperatures, CREOKS has continued to offer case management and clinical services including primary care, therapy, Family Peer Recovery Support services and outreach efforts to anyone in the shelter who wanted it, helping connect residents to services, resources, and housing options.

"CREOKS is proud to have partnered with Mayor Nichols, the City of Tulsa, and Housing Solutions Tulsa to provide a life-saving sanctuary for over 600 individuals this winter," said Brent Black, CEO of CREOKS Health Services. "This achievement was made possible by the incredible support of our staff, the City of Tulsa, Housing Solutions Tulsa, plus the many volunteers and donors. As we continue providing case management and other support services to those served, we look forward to our additional work toward the Safe Move Tulsa strategy to ensure every neighbor has a path to permanent housing."

During the most severe cold periods in January this year, the City partnered with Housing Solutions Tulsa, the lead agency for A Way Home for Tulsa, and other A Way Home for Tulsa organizations to open an additional emergency shelter at Dream Center West, bringing the total number of individuals served across both sites to 1,343 throughout the winter season.

Coordinated outreach at the Winter Weather Shelter has helped the City better understand and connect with residents experiencing homelessness, making future efforts to connect with those individuals faster and more effective.

Shelter Capacity Widens
The opening of the winter weather shelter this winter season marked a noticeable shift in the City's strategy to increase shelter space. While operations at that shelter have ceased, Tulsa leaders just announced the groundbreaking of The Harbor - Tulsa's first low-barrier shelter expected to open by the end of the year.

With the capacity to serve 180 people nightly, The Harbor is expected to dramatically decrease the City's reliance on temporary winter shelters. The increase in shelter beds will allow the City to serve more people, decrease street sleeping, and increase valuable outcomes in Tulsa's homeless community.

Safe Move Tulsa Integration
In recent months, Safe Move Tulsa - Tulsa's comprehensive effort to end street sleeping and close encampments - has housed nearly 70 individuals, successfully closed five encampments, and maintained those closures.

Early results show that those placed in housing remain stably housed. Work has now moved to the Downtown corridor, where City officials and partners of the Safe Move Tulsa strategy are working to end street sleeping. The effort is being paired with "rapid resolutions" that seek to quickly end someone's homelessness through a rapid exit strategy (i.e. fixing someone's car, helping with a security deposit on a home, etc.).

More information about Safe Move Tulsa's work in Downtown, including work to end street sleeping and implement rapid exit strategies, is forthcoming.

For more information about Safe Move Tulsa, visit: www.SafeMoveTulsa.com

Background on Citywide Homelessness Response
Recent efforts to launch Safe Move Tulsa and open a low barrier shelter build on similar efforts championed by City leaders over the past several years.

In 2024, the City/Council 3H Task Force released 33 Path to Home recommendations related to the City's efforts on homelessness at the intersection of housing and mental health. Those recommendations included numerous efforts to boost housing stock, increase mental health services, and deploy resources to address homelessness.

Specific to homelessness, the Task Force identified the need to open a low barrier shelter; hire a homelessness program lead; develop a policy around strategic encampment decommissioning; grow an enhanced street outreach program; and fund kennels at the Tulsa Day Center, among a few other priorities. Combined with recent efforts by the current administration and Council, these efforts have largely come to fruition.

For more information on the City's Path to Home strategy, visit: www.cityoftulsa.org/PathToHome