Addressing Native homelessness in Tulsa requires a multifaceted approach

(TULSA, Okla.) Native Americans across the United States have endured centuries of challenges, including historical injustice and loss of land. Many of these injustices have never been rectified, resulting today as wealth inequality and persistent homelessness. 

These injustices are built into the foundations of many cities in northeast Oklahoma, particularly relating to the legalized theft through county court systems in the early 1900s. The congressional paper “The Five Civilized Tribes: Progress and Problems”, published in 1948, states the transition of probate jurisdiction from federal to county courts “did result in thousands of Indians losing their lands, often to the corresponding enrichment of whites and some mixed blood Indians”.

Related Story: In Oklahoma, theft of Indigenous land was swift and relentless following statehood

A couple of decades before that, while serving as Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Congressman Charles Burke said this of Oklahoma lawmakers: “if they have not any concern from a moral standpoint of right and wrong in allowing the Indians to be defrauded out of their property, they ought to have some consideration for their own State, because if this thing continues you will soon have a pauper population upon your hands”.

The issue remains 100 years later.

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, American Indian, Alaska Native, and Indigenous people have the second highest rate of homelessness among racial groups in the United States. 

In Tulsa County, Native people make up 12 percent of the overall population.

VNN Oklahoma recently researched the extent of homelessness within the Native youth population in Tulsa. We found that 26 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds identifying as homeless in Tulsa also identified as American Indian, Alaska Native, or Indigenous. That is two times the rate of homeless white youth in Tulsa. 

When addressing homelessness amongst Native populations, historical and cultural considerations must be taken into account. 

But, when we combed through Tulsa’s homeless initiative “Path to Home” and its recommendations, which include four goals and 33 actions to address community needs, the words “Native”, “Indigenous” and “culture” did not come up once.

This is also despite the city sitting on three tribal reservations. 

However, VNN Oklahoma was able to find organizations in other parts of Oklahoma and the country working to address the homeless problem within Native communities. 

In July of 2023, the Native Homeless Alliance was formed. The alliance is made up of representatives from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, the Absentee Shawnee Tribe, the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma and the Sac & Fox Nation. 

The alliance primarily focuses its efforts on Shawnee. In February of 2022, Native Americans made up 31 percent of the homeless population in Shawnee. 

According to the City of Shawnee, the Native American Homeless rate dropped to 22 percent in November of 2023, after the Native Homeless Alliance was formed. 

Members of the Native Homeless Alliance say they work to address the complex issues that Native homeless people face. 

A few months after forming, the group held a Native American Resource Fair specifically for unhoused Native Americans. The fair featured different tribal agencies on site that could share the resources they have to offer with Native Americans experiencing homelessness. 

The alliance also assists tribal citizens who don’t have documentation, because federal programs typically require having tribal documentation to qualify. 

Another issue many homeless people face when trying to get assistance is not having an address. To resolve this, a local church offered people who don’t have an address the opportunity to use the church’s address if they need it to get documentation. 

This unique solution was “huge,” said Michelle Ramirez, a Community Services Counselor and representative from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation serving on the alliance. “Coming together with communities and churches and just whatever community organization that stepped in to fill the gap as to what was needed was a wonderful step.”

A limitation of the church offering the option for homeless people to use its address though, is that it is only a temporary solution for an ongoing problem. 

Around the country, other organizations and some tribes have stepped up to address the crisis of Native homelessness. 

In Seattle, Chief Seattle Club, a Native led organization has spent the last 50 years working to address the issue of Native homelessness in King County. 

Chief Seattle Club opened ʔálʔal in 2022, an 80 unit apartment building designed for American Indians and Alaska Natives who are homeless. According to the Chief Seattle Club website, 96% of the residents at ʔálʔal are Indigenous. 

Despite the housing projects success, KNKX reported on concerns residents at ʔálʔal have expressed since its opening. 

Residents told KNKX that they are concerned about the overdoses that have occurred at ʔálʔal and a suicide that occurred. 

One of the residents, Carrietta White Lance, told KNKX “It seems like all our relatives are dying, and nobody's doing nothing about it. I'm tired of relatives being wheeled out.” 

Derrick Belgarde, the Executive Director for Chief Seattle Club told KNKX that the organization does provide Narcan and Fentanyl testing strips. 

Chief Seattle Club also offers Native remedies like talking circles to address substance abuse and mental health concerns. Memorials are held quarterly to honor those lost. 

The Seattle Indian Health Board told KNKX that people have to want treatment to receive it, and that other limitations include a shortage of substance abuse and mental health counselors and detox centers in the area. 

The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians in California is also working to help members who need housing. The tribe does not have land, but was able to open an apartment building with 10 units in 2021 to assist tribal members who needed a home. 

KQED reported on how the tribe was able to get Cheyanne Wright, a young mother, into one of the apartments at a rent she could afford. 

The apartment building was named Sugar Bowl apartments and made possible thanks to funding from Homekey, an investment by the state of California to provide housing for homeless people across the state. 

However, one of the limitations of the Sugar Bowl apartments project is that it relies on the state for funding, which could be a problem in the future if the funding dries up. 

All of these programs demonstrate that addressing homelessness for Indigenous people can be done. And programs should also include the Native perspective, as well as an understanding of the cultural and historical challenges that Indigenous people face. 

When addressing issues like substance use disorder with Native community members, incorporating Native culture can be particularly healing, such as the Red Road to Wellbriety.  

And it’s important to meet people where they’re at, like the Native Homeless Alliance in Shawnee did. 

Native homelessness needs to be addressed in ways that are as unique as their tribes and citizens are, and require taking a myriad of informed and cultural factors into consideration to best serve those who are in need. 

Referencing back to ““The Five Civilized Tribes: Progress and Problems”, the Acting District Director at the time is quoted as saying “we have not completed our job in serving Indians in Oklahoma until we have raised their average income and level of living and culture to a living equal or near that of their white neighbors”. 

As that remains the case more than 70 years later, perhaps Native-centered initiatives are the remedy needed to finally achieve that goal. 

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