Gov. Kevin Stitt came to Tulsa with Operation SAFE and declared victory after encampments were swept from state land.

But what looked like action was really displacement. People were given two choices: accept shelter or treatment that may not exist, or face removal and possibly jail. That is not compassion. It is coercion. And it costs Tulsa more than real solutions would.

On a single night this year, the Tulsa Point-in-Time Count identified 1,449 people experiencing homelessness, a 4.3 percent increase from the year before. The majority became homeless here in Oklahoma. The most common reasons were lack of affordable housing, job loss, domestic violence, and mental health challenges. This is not an imported problem. It is a Tulsa problem.

Oklahoma already has one of the highest incarce

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