City task force seeks solutions for Muskogee's homeless population.
Nov. 9—One challenge of helping Muskogee's homeless is determining how many people are homeless, and why, officials say.
Muskogee City Council has appointed a subcommittee to find ways to help the homeless population. Members are council members Melody Cranford and Shirley Hilton-Flanary, Evelyn Hibbs of Women in Safe Home, Eastern Oklahoma Library System Executive Director Kathy Seibold, former Mayor Wren Stratton and Katy Marshall with Green Country Behavioral Health.
Muskogee has approximately 20 to 30 people without homes, Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee said at the Oct. 28 City Council meeting.
"It seems like a lot more because they'll just go from one area to the next," Teehee said. "The ones who actually we believe we can tie to Muskogee that are homeless is less than 10."
Teehee said the subcommittee is trying to find out how many of the homeless are from Muskogee, "as opposed to coming from Tahlequah or Warner or wherever the case may be."
Many seem to want to remain homeless, and many have mental issues, he said.
Police officers, particularly officer James Hamlin, try to work with homeless people to find housing, jobs, a way to their hometowns or other needs, Teehee said.
"You have a group of people and it's a high number out there in Muskogee as well as across the state and country who have no interest in anything other than just being homeless, as sad as that is," Teehee said.
Cranford said she has spoken to many homeless people.
"There are homeless for reasons that are unimaginable," Cranford said, adding that mental health is an issue.
"And that is why we have Katy who is a homeless expert at Green Country on this committee with us, because we want to ensure that while we are helping you, we are helping them at the same time," Cranford told Teehee.
Cranford said the subcommittee is studying homelessness among veterans.
"We are on the ground we are working," she said. "We are gaining rapport, we are doing some things you may not always be able to see."
She said the subcommittee is trying to be proactive.
"It seems like there are a lot of people here that are homeless, but we don't have an overpopulation like you would see on the news and some of these other places," she said.
The subcommittee is to have an invitation-only discussion about the impact of the homeless population. The panel will include Muskogee Police, GCBH, Muskogee County Health Department, St. Francis Hospital Muskogee and Muskogee County Emergency Medical Service.
