Norman City Council voted to extend the city’s warming shelter’s contract after hearing public comments supporting the extension during Tuesday's meeting.
A Friend’s House, located at 109 W. Gray St., is a city-funded shelter operated by Food and Shelter, a homeless outreach organization. The funding contract expired in March, leaving the council to decide whether the shelter can stay open by extending its contract for three additional months.
The shelter will be reviewed quarterly, according to April Doshier, executive director of Food and Shelter, and could be called up for renewal at that point.
The contract was pulled off the consent docket at the request of Ward 3 Councilmember Kelly Lynn, who serves as the chair of the oversight committee. Ward 2 Councilmember Lauren Schueler questioned the move, claiming he attempted to pull it off the agenda too late.
Lynn had requested the item be pulled at 6:25 p.m., five minutes before the meeting started, according to Mayor Larry Heikkila. Schueler said she had asked about the status of the item several times prior, assuming it would be removed.
Schueler said the city should provide more notice to the public when items are pulled off the consent docket. Kelly said he wasn’t sure why it was ever placed on the consent docket, as he never supported it.
Several residents voiced concerns regarding the impact of the shelter’s closure during open public comment. All 19 commenters made remarks supporting the extension of the shelter.
Jacqueline Jackson Fabre, a resident of A Friend’s House since January, said the shelter is meeting the needs of people experiencing homelessness in Norman.
“The homeless population issue is not decreasing. It’s increasing,” Fabre said. “A permanent solution needs to happen in every city for people who don’t have family or anywhere else to go, and that was my situation.”
Another resident, who did not identify themself, called themself living proof of the impact of Norman’s homelessness services, sharing with council they are now one year and six months sober. The resident credited Doshier and Food and Shelter’s services with their recovery, as well as with a recent job offer from Riverwind Casino.
Doshier mentioned the science of hope, the idea that hope is the greatest predictor of future success. Doshier said the extension of the contract would be the hope residents may require.
Cynthia Rogers, an OU economics professor, said closing the shelter would effectively criminalize homelessness, leaving people without a legal place to stay at night.
“I don’t think that’s a tenable situation for us to be in, that’s not compassionate to say, ‘You can’t be there in the public park’ and ‘You can’t be there’ and ‘Oh, we’re closing the shelter,’” Rogers said.
During council comments, Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Tyler Holman noted the shelter’s success with permanently housing people. He said the shelter isn’t causing the same problems that require law enforcement attention like previous shelters were, and it’s helping a variety of residents.
Schueler thanked the community for showing up to the meeting and thanked residents of A Friend’s House, specifically, for speaking.
Lynn said his problem with the contract has nothing to do with the residents at the shelter or services provided, but instead with the funding source coming from the government.
“Let’s go to the churches and ask for money before you come to the city — exhaust those resources,” Lynn said. “You have a thousand churches in Norman … and that is their role. I have no other feelings other than I do not want it to be government money.”
Eight churches in Norman currently stock food pantries in Norman. However, those churches do not advertise offering an overnight shelter.
Ward 1 Councilmember Austin Ball said he’s found there to be no guarantee in the United States Constitution of a bed and a meal every single night. However, Ball said he would vote in favor of the shelter to gather more information about homelessness solutions in Norman.
Ultimately, the contract for A Friend’s House was extended in a vote of 8-1, with only Lynn voting against the measure.
This story was edited by Alexia Aston, Karoline Leonard and Jazz Wolfe. Francisco Gutierrez and Alexandra Powell-Lorentzatos copy edited this story.
