Neighbors Oppose Planned Homeless Center Near Mohawk Park Golf Course

Neighbors who live near a planned center for homeless people don't want it there.

The City of Tulsa said last week the temporary housing location would be near the Mohawk Park golf course.

This old nursing home is what the City says is the best of 50 sites considered for a place where people who are homeless now could live, for a time, until they find housing.

"Security is our biggest concern, safety, it's not going to be safe for us," Christie Matthews, a neighbor, said.

That's the concern for Matthews, about plans for transitional housing for homeless people in her neighborhood. She lives here. The site is just past her garden.

"And then you have all these people who have nothing to do, no jobs, so there's a lot of concern, a lot of worry," Matthews said.

Repairs have started at the site, which the City said could open late this fall. The building is in an isolated neighborhood between a city water treatment plant and a golf course.

It's where Dan Polak hopes to live the rest of his life.

"So I'm going, my way of life is gone, no matter they open there, and once it's open, it's a whole can of worms to close it down," he said.

The City says the building will have 24-hour security and staffing, with people in individual apartments, who can come in only by referral, though until last week, it was always called a "low barrier homeless shelter" - now the City calls it a residential care center.

"There's nothing out here for these people, no amenities, the closest grocery store is five miles away," Polak said.

Polak and his neighbors worry about more traffic and a possible bus stop, but mainly they have uncertainty about what's coming, who will be living next door, and how it will impact them.

"If it is indeed low barrier housing, that's terrible for this area. There's nothing out here for those people," he said.

The City is having a meeting for the neighborhood tomorrow evening, in the auditorium at the Mohawk water treatment plant that's just up the road. City staff will be there to answer the many questions the neighbors have.