Tulsa Mayor Nichols launches 'Housing Acceleration Team' to streamline permitting, zoning

Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, along with other city and local leaders, held a news conference on Monday to announce key developments related to housing in the city.

Monday's announcement included an executive order that Nichols said would put in place methods to help him achieve the city’s housing goals.

"What we're working on right now is not something that was the mayor's idea or counselors' idea. It is the very best idea to get the most bang out of the taxpayers' dollars, and that's what we're working on right now," said Nichols.

The key points of Mayor Nichols' Executive Order are:

1. Establishing a "Housing Acceleration Team" to streamline permitting and zoning processes to make it easier to build the needed housing.
2. Creating a new public "housing permitting tracker" that will be released to provide accountability and transparency on progress towards the 6,000 affordable housing unit goal.
3. It includes a Community Builder Pilot Program that offers incentives to developers to transform vacant properties into usable housing, addressing both blight and affordable housing.
4. It involves a plan for the $75 million approved through the Improve Our Tulsa 3 program, with input from experts to determine the best use of those funds.

Nichols’s Statements on Executive Order:

Nichols says this is a step in the right direction to hitting the city’s housing goals.

"All of us know the huge task we have out in front of us of making sure that we meet our overall housing needs, but very specifically meeting those needs that we have around affordable housing,” said Nichols.

He says the tracker will help Tulsans be more connected with their initiatives to improve housing.

"As you all know, I am very big on accountability,” said Nichols. “But I also think it provides us all with a good understanding on what's working, what's not working, what we need to improve and how we get better."

Mayor Nichols' Housing Priorities

Mayor Nichols said that affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization are a top priority and that his administration has set goals to address housing challenges in the city.

"You've heard me say several times a goal, stated goal of getting 6000 affordable units online by 2028 and it's a lofty goal, but it's something that also doesn't happen on accident, and I would argue it's something that's fully within our control to make, to make happen," said Nichols.

The Mayor laid out the following goals for his current term:

1. Increase affordable housing stock by 6,000 units by 2028
2. Reduce blighted properties by 60% by 2028
3. Align affordable housing development with neighborhood revitalization efforts.
4. Lowering developer costs to encourage more housing production

Developer’s Perspective:

Stuart McDaniel is the owner of GuRuStu Communities and says he has worked with hundreds of properties in North Tulsa.

"I'm very impressed with Mayor Nichols's aggressive approach to like, 'let's just get it done,”’ said McDaniel. “He showed up, day one, rolled up his sleeves. As a developer, time is money. You've got limited resources and labor and things to do, to work with, and if you don't have the city ready to go, a project can die on the phone."

He said some of his ideas led to the Community Builder Program.

"The Community Builder Program was the genesis of, 'let's do something to start moving the needle on some of these issues that multi-property developers are having,”’ said McDaniel.

McDaniel says he’s already seen improvements under Mayor Nichols and hopes things keep moving in the right direction.

"Everyone is going the same direction this time, and it's like, 'how do we break down these barriers to get some stuff done,”’ said McDaniel. “I see it, I'm hopeful, so I would encourage those developers to come back, give Tulsa another chance."

Housing Statistics:

The City of Tulsa says that the 2023 Citywide Housing Assessment determined that nearly 13,000 new housing units are needed in Tulsa in the next 10 years.

The City also says it’s ranked 11th for highest eviction rates in the country.

City leaders say Tulsa needs more than 6,000 housing units to support low-income Tulsans and 46% of Tulsa renters reported spending more than 30% of their income on housing.

Next steps:

The City says the Housing Acceleration Team has already been identified and will begin working immediately.

The City says the online tracker is expected to be released publicly sometime this spring.

City leaders say the Community Builder Program is expected to launch once incentives and more funding are established.

The City says this spring, Nichols will present a plan for the implementation of the $75 million approved by taxpayers as part of the Improve Our Tulsa III plan.

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