Kevin Canfield

Tulsa World Reporter

Mike Simons

Tulsa World Photojournalist

In explaining his decision to send Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers to Tulsa to clear homeless encampments from highway underpasses and other state-owned properties, Gov. Kevin Stitt said 45% of the city’s homeless people are from out of state.

“I’m from Tulsa, you know, lived there for 20-plus years, and just really, like most citizens, just over the last couple years, just been shocked with the amount of homeless that are coming into Tulsa,” Stitt said in an interview with the Tulsa World on Monday. “And what we found out is 45% of the people that are homeless in Tulsa are from out of state.”

Asked for the source of his information, Stitt said it came from Tulsa business leaders and others.

“That’s what I

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