Thousands of young people without housing in Oklahoma don't qualify for federal help

Thousands of youth lacking permanent housing in Oklahoma don’t qualify for many services funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

To be eligible for most housing services funded by the federal housing department , people must fit into the agency’s definitions of being at risk of homelessness or homeless , which generally includes only those sleeping in a shelter, outdoors, or in a place not meant for human habitation, like an abandoned building.

Most school-aged youth that schools report as lacking permanent housing don’t meet these criteria. Federal data shows more than 85% of unhoused youth in the state were sleeping “doubled up” with another family or in a hotel or motel during the 2022-23 school year. The figures reported by schools also include peo