Tulsa City Council Meeting - June 10, 2026: Homelessness Programs, IKEA Incentive, Rezoning, and Board Reappointment
Tulsa City Council Meeting - June 10, 2026
The Tulsa City Council met on June 10, 2026, to consider several agenda items including the reappointment of a board member, two rezoning applications, multiple budget amendments, an economic development incentive for IKEA, and a detailed presentation on homelessness programs covering winter shelter outcomes and Safe Move Tulsa expenses and future plans. The meeting included significant discussion on homeless services, funding, and encampment strategies.
Reappointment of Rick Hudson to TMUA/RMUA
- Rick Hudson, who has served on the Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority (TMUA) and the Regional Metropolitan Utility Authority (RMUA) since 2006 (20 years), expressed his desire to continue serving. He noted he attends approximately 33 meetings per year and is incoming chairman.
- Hudson highlighted challenges including aging water and sewer infrastructure, impacts of a consent order on wastewater treatment that affected bond ratings, and the need to keep rates low while ensuring safe water and wastewater disposal.
- The council indicated a vote on this reappointment would occur at the June 17 meeting.
Consent Calendar (Rezoning Items)
- Rezoning Z7852: Request by Nathan Cross to rezone property west of NW corner of E 119th St S and S Yale Ave from RS1 to RS1 with an optional development plan (to permit private streets). The TMAPC voted unanimously to approve with development plan. The proposal involved coordinating gates between two neighborhoods (Wind River Plaza and Wind River Crossing); after discussions, the western gate was eliminated, saving costs and providing additional egress for the western neighborhood.
- Rezoning Z7861: Request by Lease Simon Design to rezone property south of SE corner of E Newton St and N Aswego Ave from RS3 to MX1-35 (mixed-use). TMAPC voted unanimously to recommend approval. The applicant proposed four townhomes with commercial ground floor (e.g., a coffee shop). One neighbor expressed traffic concerns but no formal opposition. The rezoning aligns with the proposed Neighborhood Info Overlay.
Budget Amendments
- Item 5: Ordinance amending FY 2526 budget to appropriate $106,500 from unappropriated fund balance within the PD Equitable Sharing Justice Subfund for frontline leadership training academy ($75,000) and annual facilitation of the Mayor's Police and Community Coalition ($31,500). Councilor inquired about the coalition’s status and requested a full annual accounting of asset forfeiture seizure funds.
- Item 6: Ordinance to appropriate $575,000 from the 2020 Sales Tax Fund for East 36th Place sidewalk improvements, funded from each district's $1 million capital allocation.
- Item 7: Ordinance to reduce appropriations totaling $534,329.97 across three 2008 GO Bond subfunds for the Boston Avenue Bridge project (retainages held back). Questions about the project connection were addressed.
Economic Development Incentive for IKEA
- Resolution approving an economic development incentive not to exceed $5 million for DRP Tulsa Hills property owner to assist with acquisition, alteration, remodeling, and improvement of an existing retail shopping facility for IKEA attraction at Tulsa Hills Mall. This is part of a total city incentive of $7.5 million (the $5 million plus $2.5 million previously approved from a revolving loan fund). The developer originally requested over $10 million. The item includes an emergency clause.
Homelessness Programs Update (Presentation by Emily Hall, Mayor’s Senior Advisor on Homelessness)
- Winter Shelter (2025-2026 Season):
- Creoaks Winter Shelter served adults only, open Nov 17, 2025 to Mar 6, 2026. Average length of stay: 29 days; 632 individuals served (unduplicated).
- During severe weather Jan 23-29, Dream Center West opened (5 nights, 224 individuals). All emergency shelters combined served 1,343 people (unduplicated) including 103 children, 109 seniors, 52 veterans, and 60 pets.
- Budget: $1.6 million allocated; $1,194,000 paid out; $375,000 pending review; ~$29,000 remaining to be used for summer cooling stations.
- Total winter shelter spending: ~$1.1 million. Creoaks specific: $434,000 paid, $338,000 pending, total $1,112,040.66.
- Future: The new Harbor low-barrier shelter (180 beds, year-round) is expected to reduce need for long-term winter shelter. City will assess emergency capacity with providers over summer.
- Safe Move Tulsa:
- Public-private partnership to close encampments and house unsheltered individuals.
- Phase one: City dollars ($6 million), private/philanthropic ($4 million + $1 million one-time to YWCA for case managers).
- 134 individuals housed from 9 encampment closures plus downtown area (as of May?); goal of 300 individuals housed (hard-to-house) and 1000 total with lighter-touch support (rapid exits). Rapid exit program aims to reduce shelter stays from 90 days to under 45 days.
- ARPA spending: $1.26 million remaining; projected fully encumbered by September 2026; then other funding sources (opioid settlement, private) will cover ongoing costs.
- Partners: Housing Solutions (sole source, project manager), YWCA, Tulsa Day Center, Mental Health Association, John 316, Grand Mental Health, Family & Children's Services, Creoks, MetroLink, Downtown Tulsa Partnership, TPD, TFD, etc.
- Challenges: Encampment reformation, need for more outreach capacity (state cuts reduced teams), concerns about sustainability after 12-month assistance, and cash flow issues for nonprofit partners.
- Council Discussion and Follow-up Requests:
- Councilors raised questions about duplication in client counts, retention rates, transparency in financial reporting, impact on neighborhoods outside downtown, and cash flow to nonprofit partners.
- Council requested: annual asset forfeiture report, line-item budget details, a map of housing placements (without personal information), and regular monthly updates.
Key Outcomes
- Vote on reappointment (Rick Hudson) scheduled for June 17, 2026.
- Rezonings Z7852 and Z7861 received unanimous TMAPC approval and council consensus; no formal objections.
- Budget amendments (items 5, 6, 7) passed without opposition.
- IKEA economic development incentive resolution passed (with emergency clause).
- Homelessness presentation concluded with commitments to provide additional financial and outcome data to council.
Meeting Transcript
They're gonna get into depth of what's going on with that individual. You know, that call came in as a chest pain, but what was it really? I do talk to a lot of different departments across the U.S. And so we're seeing cities want to adopt this. There is models that are similar, but they've not had the impact. I think that the difference you see is R2 is able to respond to real-time 911 calls in place of other apparatus, but they also provide those other social services that are not. Attended the majority of the meetings for council district eight. Um, if you want to join us at the table, thanks so much for being here. Um would you mind sharing um a bit about yourself and why you'd like to continue serving? Well, I'm Rick Hudson, I moved here in 69. Red Way, Georgia Tech in Engineering. I have a company in Tulsa and a company in uh Burton, Colorado. We're an engineering-oriented company. I was appointed in two thousand six by Mayor Kathy Taylor. I've been on the board ever since then. I've enjoyed it. It's been a real pleasure to work with the TMUA and the RMUA. I'm incoming chairman of this coming year. Wonderful. Does anyone have any follow-up questions? Twenty years of service. Yeah. Wow. Tremendous. My wife asked me why am I doing this? Because it does take it's a lot of work. Yes, thirty-three meetings a year. I have to tell you, it's been a real honor for me to work with the city employees. I had a different idea of what city employees were like before I came down and began to work with this staff that we have. And we've had a very good relationship over the years. And uh so it's been a real honor for me. If you know what I'm eighty-two years old, still play good bridge and still play good blackjack. So I hope I'm not diminished. No, but uh, I would uh I'm happy to serve another four, got another four years of VLI for your service. Thank you. Are you part of the National Bridge League? This is relevant, I swear it's not, but are you part of do you do like the National Bridge League stuff? I just play online. Oh, that's good. My grandma was banned from it, just a fun fact. Um, look for cheating. Um just a quick fun family talk. Is there anything out of curiosity given your longitudinal service? Is there anything you think we should know or be focused on when it comes to just you city utilities that the council that you think we should be aware of? You've obviously really don't want to. It's always we consider rates and debt. And in fact, we were just in a meeting upstairs talking about bond issues and the fact that we weren't able to uh have bonds because we didn't properly fund our uh wastewater treatment uh due to a consent order and it affected our ability to uh uh to raise bonds and so we had to borrow money at a higher rate from the OWRB. So we we're facing an aging decaying uh water system and sewer system, and so we need to uh do everything we can to keep ourselves financially viable. And fortunately we've been over 20 years, we've had a good relationship with the city council. You understand our issues, and we worked well together.
openpublica.com