OKLAHOMA CITY – Twenty- year-old Lupita Davis has a warm smile and curly, reddish-brown hair and likes to talk. She said she enjoys being creative. She’s into blogging and photography.
A native Oklahoman, Lupita has lived in metro area all her life.
Three weeks ago, Lupita had a baby girl. But right now, Lupita’s life is very difficult and her little girl, Summer, isn’t living with her. In fact, Lupita might not get the chance to see Summer much this year.
Because right now, Lupita is homeless and living in a tent. Tent City If you drive around Oklahoma City, near the fairgrounds, you’ll find General Pershing Boulevard. Go far enough east and General Pershing intersects with Villa Avenue.
There, just past Villa, General Pershing is divided by a leafy, tree-covered median.
Scattered down the median, dozens of tents, shopping carts and lawn chairs cover the grass, all under the trees. The spot is packed with tents of all types. It resembles a small impromptu town inhabited by people who are just trying to survive.
This is the spot Lupita calls home.
The tent city on General Pershing Boulevard isn’t the only spot the metro area’s homeless congregate. Across Oklahoma City, small tent communities have sprouted under overpasses in medians and on vacant lots.
According to Oklahoma City‘s Point-In-Time Report, a count of the number of homeless, there were 1,882 people in Oklahoma City who were considered homeless in 2024. Of that figure about 200 of those residents were the same age as Lupita or younger.
Statewide, the number of homeless residents continues to increase.
Lawton addresses homeless issues In Comanche County, more than 350 people are considered homeless, according to data provided by the Southwest Oklahoma Continuum of Care.
Dr. Brenda Spencer-Ragland, founder and executive director of Embrace Hope Collaboratorium Inc., which operates Lawton’s C. Carter Crane Center for Empowerment and Advancement, says she believes the county’s homeless count is much higher.
Spencer-Ragland completed her doctorate thesis and research on the prevention of homelessness, through Creighton University in 2015.
“We’ve been very busy,” Spencer-Ragland said of the facility that includes a 28-bed transitional center.
She said the center – which is privately funded – works with other groups to help homeless individuals get off the streets. She said the state housing authority and other groups have helped provide low-income housing.
In 2023, PIT report, a count of Oklahoma’s homeless population sponsored by the federal department of Housing and Urban Development, said there were 1,436 homeless statewide, a figure that is up from the 2019 number of homeless, which stood at 1,273.
Nationwide estimates put today’s number of homeless at more than 771,000.
Former Oklahoma House Speaker Kris Steele – now the executive director of The Education and Employment Ministry – said housing is a major issue for lower-income Oklahomans that must be addressed.
“I would recommend that we start with significant investments in affordable housing for our folks,” he said.
Steele isn’t kidding. Information released by the Oklahoma Policy Institute, a statewide think tank, shows the state has a major shortage – more than 77,000 – of affordable rental units available.
“This shortage is exacerbated by rising housing costs, low inventory and zoning restrictions that limit the development of affordable housing options,” the institute reported. “The situation is leading to increased evictions and homelessness, impacting a growing number of Oklahomans.”
A need for help For Lupita, the problems that forced her to the streets began when she was a teenager. She was abused and forced out of her house. Later, when she asked for help from the state, she said the state failed her.
“Basically, I’ve been asking for help since I was 17,” she said. “And I haven’t gotten it.”
Since then, Lupita’s couch surfed at friends’ houses and, eventually, found herself living with two friends in a tent, not far from the state fairgrounds.
“My tent is in bad shape,” she said. “It’s got holes in it and one of the rods is broken.”
In addition to the heat and its path along Tornado Alley, Lupita’s tent-home on General Pershing has no direct access to water or sewage services and traffic flows up and down the street at all hours.
There is no security. And there are few resources for her and her baby.
“I don’t think I was ready to have a kid,” she said. “Because I am basically homeless. I don’t think I was ready.”
Right now, her daughter, Summer, isn’t living with her mother, but instead with a guardian until Lupita’s life is stabilized.
The agonizing and constant pain she feels, she said, makes it difficult to talk about her daughter. What is being done?
Oklahoma has a long history with poverty, and homelessness has made it difficult to completely solve the problem. And while the Sooner State has made strides in reducing the number of people on the streets and who live below the poverty line, the number of those who are homeless and impoverished ebbs and flows like the waters at Grand Lake.
While the state did receive more than $18 million in federal funds in January, much of those funds have been stalled by the Trump administration. According to the National Alliance to Fight Homelessness, in early 2025, the administration issued a memo freezing spending on federal loans and grants, including some intended for homelessness assistance.
In addition, President Trump’s FY 2026 budget proposal includes significant cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and its homelessness programs.
“This includes a proposed reduction of $532 million from the FY25 amount allocated for HUD's Homeless Assistance Grants, and a consolidation of major programs like the Continuum of Care and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS into the Emergency Solutions Grants program,” the group wrote on its website.
At the state level, the Oklahoma Legislature created the Legacy Capital Financing Fund in 2023 to provide financing for capital projects, including projects that could be used to address homelessness and mental health. Hidden, chronic homeless may skew estimates Lawton Police Sergeant Matt Dimmitt said many residents who lost their house or their apartment and are temporarily living on the street or with a relative or friend. He said the city’s homeless population includes approximately 150 to 200 addicts and the chronically homeless who live that way because they prefer it.
“There are ‘the hidden homeless,’” Dimmitt said, “who are couch surfers living at the residence of a relative or friend until they overstay their welcome. And there are those who are staying in someone’s back yard or in a garage or storage shed.”
Dimmit said the police department received many calls about the homeless. Many of those calls involved several issues, such as petty larceny, trespassing and unwanted guest and arrests on warrants. As a result, approximately 175 homeless individuals were booked into Lawton’s city jail in 2023.
In the Lawton area, municipal agencies are working to address the issue. In 2023 (the latest year for which local statistics are available), the Lawton Police Department received 1,200 calls for service that involved the homeless, Southwest Ledger reported.
In addition, in March of 2024, the Lawton City Council created the Homeless Action Committee to help fight residents move off the streets while dozens of local businesses and groups are assisting three organizations – The Salvation Army, C. Carter Crane Center, and MIGHT Community Development & Resource Center – to provide resources to those who have no home.
Lawton’s Embrace Hope organization assumed management of C. Carter Crane Center’s 28-bed homeless shelter last year. The shelter was originally managed by the Great Plains Improvement Foundation.
The C. Carter Crane Center partners with The Salvation Army for job searches and training and with Catalyst Behavioral Services for drug and alcohol recovery. Residents receive help in getting needed medical and dental care.
“We work with the Comanche County Health Department, with Jim Taliaferro Community Mental Health Center and with Comanche County Memorial Hospital,” Spencer-Ragland said. Efforts in the capital Among countless other initiatives undertaken in Oklahoma City over the years, Mayor David Holt has recently established the Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness, charged with developing a strategic plan focusing on prevention, affordable housing, outreach and advocacy.
Nevertheless, issues about access to affordable housing remain.
Officials with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services could not be reached for comment.
Still, for residents such as Lupita, even though there are programs targeting the problem, getting help isn’t always easy.
“I keep reaching out and I keep making lots of calls,” she said. “But I don’t get much help.”
Editor’s Note: Southwest Ledger reporter Mike W. Ray contributed to this story.