Tulsa Housing Authority building affordable housing in North Tulsa
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — The Tulsa Housing Authority, the city of Tulsa, and project partners and funders are working to make affordable homes available to residents.
This project will bring more than 500 apartments to the 36th Street corridor and will also include retail space.
This area behind me used to have 271 apartments in it.
Now stakeholders investing in North Tulsa and are doubling the number of apartments.
Construction is already underway.
Back in 2023, a Tulsa citywide housing assessment was completed to determine the number of homes Tulsa needs to meet equitable growth.
That number came out to be almost 13,000 units Tulsa needs over the next decade.
The Tulsa Housing Authority and Housing Solutions have announced their largest-ever investment in affordable housing.
Totaling more than $190 million and it’s happening in North Tulsa.
“We tore down Comanche Park apartments, which was our largest family site, it was also our most distressed and in need of rehabilitation. And we are rebuilding a community that will be called 36 North. This is that necessary foundational piece that has to be done to bring about a new community that will breathe new life into this area of north Tulsa,” said Tulsa Housing Authority Vice President of Communications, Ginny Hensley.
“I think it’s a sign of what’s to come. And I think it’s really a market point of what’s possible. To see such a huge development, such a huge investment happening right here in Tulsa. Five or ten years ago that may have not been thought of something that may not have been thought as something that can be done,” said Housing Solutions CEO, Mark Smith.
Former residents are given first rights to return.
Hensley also said that North Tulsa has been under-resourced and underserved for decades now and that this is just the beginning of changes in North Tulsa.
This new apartment complex will be a mixed-income community that is made up of traditionally subsidized units, workforce units that are affordable, and market-rate units.
They’re breaking ground on this North Tulsa project on Thursday that has been in the works for several years.
“The reason it’s exciting is because we have been talking about this project since 2017. And certainly, this area of North Tulsa, has heard many promises and many of those promises have not been kept," said Hensley. "And it was very important for us here at the Tulsa housing authority to make sure that we honor what we say we are going to do. And so now if you drive by 36 Street North and Peoria, you see it.”
They don’t want to just house the homeless, but they also want to prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless.
These single-family homes are projected to be completed in six years.