City Care took over full operations for A Friend’s House, Norman’s overnight emergency shelter, on Wednesday.
City Care is an Oklahoma City-based nonprofit organization that specializes in addressing homelessness.
On Nov. 26, Norman City Council voted 5-4 to approve a contract with City Care to assume full operations of the shelter from Jan. 15 to June 30. The contract includes a $752,200 total operating budget and requires daily logs of incident reports and detailed financial records of all payments and income received.
Rachel Freeman, CEO of City Care, said City Care plans to prioritize housing navigation for guests of A Friend’s House, which includes housing navigators who connect unhoused residents with income and housing, and case management.
“An emergency shelter is a key and critical component to any homeless response system. It's where we can meet people who are living outside, build rapport and trust with them, and start working on those barriers to housing,” Freeman said.
According to Freeman, City Care’s top priority is to ensure everyone has a safe place to call home, and that they are excited to work with the city who share the same core values.
“We believe everyone has inherent dignity and everyone deserves a safe place to sleep at night, so that's how you will see us operate in the city of Norman,” Freeman said.
City Care took over operations of A Friend’s House from the previous operator, Food and Shelter, a nonprofit that provides housing and food services to Norman residents experiencing homelessness. Food and Shelter operated A Friend’s House from October 2022 to January 2025.
In June, City Auditor Shaakira Calnick issued a report accusing Food and Shelter of mismanaging $9,835.60 in facility funds from November 2022 to February 2024, saying $20,542 remained unaccounted. Calnick also alleged April Doshier, executive director of Food and Shelter, received unexplained raises and bonuses. Doshier and Food and Shelter have denied the findings in Calnick’s report.
In September, Food and Shelter announced it would stop operating the shelter due to a disagreement over the city’s new contract terms, adding it would continue operations until a new operator was found.
On Monday, Doshier told OU Daily that Food and Shelter was working with City Care to create a seamless transition, hoping guests would not know a separation of services.
“It’s going as good as it can be. There's definitely some worry among the residents and the guests there that things could change, and they might have different rules and expectations,” Doshier said. “I have faith that City Care is going to continue to provide great services they do in Oklahoma City, and I think they will here as well.”
This story was edited by Ana Barboza, Ismael Lele and Anusha Fathepure. Geethika Kollu and Avery Avery copy edited this story.
