An Austin, Texas-based think tank is acting as a powerful force behind Oklahoma legislation that aims to criminalize homeless encampments and mandate addiction treatment.<\/p>\n
The Cicero Institute is a conservative public policy organization<\/a> that drafts model legislation related to homelessness, health care, education, public safety and regulatory reform. It was founded by Joe Lonsdale, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who backed Donald Trump\u2019s campaign for president in 2024.<\/p>\n Local homelessness service providers say prioritizing housing for people experiencing homelessness is an effective, evidence-based model. But the Cicero Institute believes the “housing first” model doesn’t work, and is working at the Capitol to push its policy ideas that have already complicated the work of advocates in the state.<\/p>\n More: Homelessness is increasing in Oklahoma City. What to know about programs to reduce it<\/a><\/p>\n Oklahoma adopted the Cicero Institute\u2019s model anti-camping legislation in 2024, prohibiting camping on state-owned land along highways and turnpikes. Critics have said the bill criminalizes homelessness and doesn’t solve the problem.<\/p>\n Laws modeled after the group’s bill also have passed in several other states, including Florida, Texas and Missouri.<\/p>\n Like in Oklahoma, Republicans across the country have increasingly targeted homelessness. In July, Trump declared<\/a> that homeless services receiving federal funding must focus first on locking up people with drug or mental health challenges. A month later, Trump announced plans to seize control of the police department in Washington, DC, and sweep homeless people off the city\u2019s streets.<\/p>\n In September, Gov. Kevin Stitt ordered state troopers<\/a> to clear homeless encampments in Tulsa and arrest the people living in them or drive them to treatment or housing.<\/p>\n Paul Webster, a senior fellow for the Cicero Institute, told The Oklahoman that the group has been heavily involved in the effort to ban camping statewide and expand involuntary civil commitment, or court-ordered treatment, for people with substance use disorder or severe mental illness.<\/p>\n The group’s website says that homeless encampments have deteriorated shared public spaces over the last decade. It claims that the crime and safety issues that accompany encampments make them susceptible to violence, exploitation and drug trafficking.<\/p>\n On Oct. 20, Webster spoke at a 3\u00bd-hour interim study in the state House on oversight of homeless shelters. Invited by two Republican lawmakers, Rep. Kevin West, of Moore, and Sen. Lisa Standridge, of Norman, Webster called progressive policies like those focused on permanent supportive housing ineffective.<\/p>\n He added that policies focusing on data-informed and evidence-based practices like the \u201chousing first\u201d model are problematic because \u201chomeless advocacy groups manipulate data to support their agendas.\u201d<\/p>\n More: Gov. Stitt launches Operation SAFE: How many are homeless in Tulsa, OKC? See the data<\/a><\/p>\n Webster\u2019s assessment caused advocates and service providers in the room to exchange glances and quiet whispers as he suggested that focusing on permanent housing does not reduce the number of people living and dying on the streets or address the root causes of homelessness.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal should be ending the permissive, dangerous and unhealthy practice of living on the street and in encampments,\u201d Webster said. \u201cOver the last 20 years, the focus has been on increasing the amount of affordable housing in the hopes that subsidized housing combined with services will reduce the number of homeless.\u201d<\/p>\n While homelessness has slightly increased in Oklahoma City in recent years, the number of unsheltered people has been on a steady decline. According to the city\u2019s annual Point-In-Time<\/a>, 421 people were living on the streets in January. That number was 557 in 2020, 471 in 2022 and 433 in 2024.<\/p>\n During the hearing, Haley Phelps, chief administrative officer for the Homeless Alliance, said housing is the solution to curbing homelessness. She cited OKC\u2019s Key to Home Partnership<\/a> \u2015 a public-private alliance of local agencies, private sector partners and dozens of nonprofits addressing unsheltered homelessness.<\/p>\n Through the initiative, each person receives housing and 12 months of case management to support them in stabilizing and succeeding in their new homes.<\/p>\n The initiative has housed 398 people in OKC and closed 24 encampments<\/a> from July 2023 to June 2025. About 93% of encampment residents approached through the program have accepted housing.<\/p>\n Rachel Freeman, City Care chief executive officer, told The Oklahoman \u201chousing first\u201d means someone doesn\u2019t have to be sober to obtain shelter or mental health support.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t put people into housing and just step away from them,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cThat\u2019s not what \u2018housing first\u2019 means, but that is a sensationalized take on it to prove a point that I\u2019m not trying to prove as it relates to homelessness decreasing.\u201d<\/p>\n She pointed out that about 1,300 evictions occur in Oklahoma County every month, a sign that there is not enough affordable housing for low-income earners.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are pushing people into homelessness at the rate of a fire hydrant every month by evicting people who are one month behind rent and some fees, and then they can\u2019t find a place to live where they\u2019re not going to be cost-burdened, you\u2019re not going to have a decrease in homelessness,\u201d Freeman said.<\/p>\n During the hearing, Webster also advocated for involuntary treatment for chronically homeless and unsheltered people. He pointed to Senate Bill 740<\/a>, which would expand the definition of a person requiring treatment or an assistant outpatient to include people experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n \u201cHousing is not necessarily appropriate for people with addictions and untreated mental illness,\u201d Webster said. \u201cTreatment is. States must combine the creation of more places for people to go with treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n Authored by Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, SB 740 passed in the Senate 36-10 earlier this year with its \u201cnay\u201d votes split between Democrats and Oklahoma Freedom Caucus Republicans. It\u2019s eligible to be heard in the House when the Legislature reconvenes in February.<\/p>\n Freeman told The Oklahoman that she believes the Constitution will need to change for something like involuntary treatment to pass.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are founded on voice and choice, that everybody gets to kind of make their own way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Webster told The Oklahoman that voluntary services only work for people who want to get help.<\/p>\n \u201cPrograms that work, work for the people who work the programs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Freeman said that there have always been groups like the Cicero Institute acting as the driving force behind policies that impact the jobs of homelessness service providers. She said her hope is that there will be an ongoing relationship between lawmakers and service providers to produce \u201creal dynamic change.”<\/p>\n Freeman added that she welcomed the opportunity to talk about homelessness for over three hours and is grateful for the discourse and relationships.<\/p>\n “We don’t often get someone’s undivided attention for very long,” she said.<\/p>\n Freeman proposed crafting legislation and policies that address affordability, especially for senior citizens who are on a fixed income. She also suggested solutions for zoning and enabling high-density, small, single family homes.<\/p>\n At the Capitol, the Cicero Institute is not the only think tank driving legislation. In 2025, David Bond spent $8,000 in lobbying as vice president for advocacy for the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a conservative policy group.<\/p>\n The group regularly praises Republican lawmakers and Stitt for signing GOP policies, like reducing Oklahoma\u2019s income tax rate by 0.25%<\/a> and limiting the number of initiative petition signature<\/a>s that can be collected from a single county<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based conservative Christian legal advocacy group, is behind a bill that sought to allow medical practitioners to refuse health care to a patient if the service violates their conscience. The group’s push to inject religion into public spaces has gained broad support among GOP state leaders and lawmakers, though its work has drawn critics such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, which designates the ADF as a hate group<\/a>.<\/p>\n The practitioner conscience bill, authored by West, died in conference in May. West held an interim study on Oct. 23 to reexamine the issue.<\/p>\n