A coordinated city effort has cleared a large encampment along Virginia Avenue and moved dozens of people into permanent housing, marking another milestone for Oklahoma City’s campaign to reduce street homelessness. The operation is part of the broader Encampment Rehousing Initiative, which recently exceeded its original housing target and continues to place people into apartments with support services.
The most recent action relocated 55 residents from the Virginia Avenue site into apartments and connected them with wraparound services. An additional 20 people from that encampment are in the placement pipeline, with move-ins expected soon.
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Key to Home, the lead partnership behind the initiative, said the Virginia Avenue location was prioritized after reviewing site size, safety risks and proximity to traffic. Jamie Caves, the partnership’s strategy implementation manager, described the effort as a planned response balancing neighborhood concerns and residents’ needs.
Multiple nonprofit and public agencies took part in the operation. Outreach and engagement at the site were handled by the Homeless Alliance and the Mental Health Association, while City Rescue Mission secured rental units. Focus on Home supplied furniture and household items, and housing subsidies were arranged through the Oklahoma City Housing Authority and the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency.
The Education and Employment Ministry carried out the cleanup of the former encampment. City crews and the Oklahoma City Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team secured the area afterward and will continue monitoring to discourage a return to the site.
Case management for newly housed residents will be provided over the next year by Catholic Charities, City Rescue Mission and the Homeless Alliance, officials said, with the goal of helping people stabilize and maintain their housing.
Key to Home initially set out to house 500 people through the Encampment Rehousing Initiative by the end of 2025. The partnership has since surpassed that benchmark.
As of now, the initiative has found housing for nearly 700 people and families and has closed 35 encampment sites across the city. Key to Home also continues to monitor closed locations to prevent them from being reoccupied.
The campaign is framed as a data-driven, citywide strategy that connects more than 50 organizations to coordinate services, share information and invest in interventions intended to strengthen Oklahoma City’s homelessness response.
- Outreach & engagement: Homeless Alliance, Mental Health Association
- Housing procurement: City Rescue Mission
- Furnishing & essentials: Focus on Home
- Rental subsidies: Oklahoma City Housing Authority, Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency
- Site cleanup: Education and Employment Ministry
- Security & follow-up: City of Oklahoma City, OKC Police Homeless Outreach Team
- Case management: Catholic Charities, City Rescue Mission, Homeless Alliance
Why this matters now: the continued placements signal that the city’s multi-agency approach is scaling beyond initial projections, while sustained monitoring and yearlong case management aim to reduce the chance of people returning to unsheltered conditions. For neighbors, officials say, the steps address local safety and sanitation concerns; for formerly unhoused residents, the emphasis is on long-term stability rather than short-term relocation.
More information about the partnership and its priorities is available at keytohomeokc.org.
