Homeless Alliance

This is perhaps one of the best not-​for-​profits I’ve ever even heard about, much less been fortunate enough to get to work with. I’ll explain why. I’m a relatively recent addition to the board, so these are laymen’s terms, but hopefully this makes sense.
OKC is a compassionate city, to be sure. But even in a compassionate city, the homeless population is often forgotten, if not completely unseen. Even caring people seem to write off the homeless, put them in a category somehow less important than even, say, homeless dogs. It’s easy to dismiss this group of people, to assume they created their problems. But, studies show, many homeless have dealt with mental illness, that has often gone untreated. Sometimes, they’ve self-​medicated. Sometimes, a catastrophic life event has thrust them out of their normal lives. And, oftentimes, a few small fluctuations led someone who was barely getting by into a life of living out of a car or couch-​surfing, or whatever you want to call it, and ended up homeless.
And I actually care less about what caused it than I do about the result. The result is, here is a person who does not have a home. Not a room in a home. No place to get that most basic of human needs met, that of shelter. They are vulnerable now to almost everything: medical issues, the weather, to assault and worse, to hunger. They miss out on the basic opportunities to proper hygiene that you and I take for granted, and are then judged for that lack of hygiene. No matter the cause, here are our neighbors, who need our help. That’s really all it amounts to, on a basic human level.
So, you and I need a good way to help, and that’s what the Homeless Alliance provides.
1) A day shelter. There are lots of overnight shelters, but West Town, the day center run by the Homeless Alliance, affords showers, haircuts, two hot meals each day, a library, computers, and access human services. Lockers provide a safe place for belongings; there’s even an area for their dogs to be comfortably secured while the clients are inside.
2) Coordinated Case Management: Many government agencies, not-​for-​profits, and faith based organizations address homelessness in our city. They all address different groups that homeless people may fall into: veterans, single mothers, mentally ill, substance abuse, children. Some people are can fall into several of these categories. When that happens, there can be duplication of services or an unmet need. CCM helps address this. It helps caseworks find all the services available to their clients, and helps safeguard clients against falling through some pretty big cracks. Social workers from all different agencies can office here, share information, and walk down the hall to help address a need.
3) Education: Through ten years of concerted effort, the HA has been able to work with the City of OKC, DHS, HUD, and the police department to help educate the public sector on the best ways to help the homeless. Some cities arrest the homeless, just for being homeless, creating further problem within corrections. And while HA doesn’t prevent all arrests of our homeless (and sometimes there is cause to arrest), they’ve also helped create a homelessness task force, comprised of officers who work the beats where homeless people tend to congregate, and this task force helps ensure that if there is a way to help them within the existing systems, they get the care they need. Compassion.
4) 100K homes: The Homeless Alliance is spearheading Oklahoma’s part of a nationwide effort to place 100,00 homeless people in housing. By working with the government, as well as private sector property owners, the Homeless Alliance is working to place our most medically vulnerable homeless people in a housing situation they find manageable and sustainable.
Oklahoma City spends $ 28 million each year on homelessness and nearly 80% of that is spent on the chronic homeless — who are only 20% of our homeless population. Even if you remove the human aspect from the equation, from a taxpayer standpoint, it makes good sense.
I’m proud to know the good people who do this work all day, every day. Their work is hard, and often thankless, and sometimes hard to explain. But Maslow’s hierarchy proves that it is truly among the most important help you can provide to a fellow human in need.
If you’re interested in learning more, see their website or feel free to PM me. I may not be able to answer your question, but I bet I can find someone who can.

The Homeless Alliance is one of the most amazing non-​profits in OKC. The work they do for the homeless population is as noteworthy as the many newspaper articles say. They care, they dignify, and they truly help the homeless find homes. It isn’t easy, but their leadership team is strong and I’m very happy to partner with them.