North Tulsa's City Lights Village opens, with 75 tiny homes for people who have been homeless more than a year

TULSA, Okla. (Nov. 14) — A village of 75 small, furnished homes for people coming out of long-term homelessness opened Friday in north Tulsa.

City Lights Village sits on 23 acres at 4467 N. Rockford Ave. and includes a community center, KTUL reported. The first group of residents moved in this week, and more are expected over the next several weeks. The nonprofit City Lights Foundation raised more than $26 million for the project.

Each one-bedroom home has a kitchen, comes fully furnished and can house up to two people, according to the Tulsa Flyer. Rent is $400 a month with utilities included. The grounds have shared laundry and a community kitchen, and a memorial garden is planned. Staff will live on site.

The village is permanent supportive housing, which means residents can get medical care, mental health treatment and addiction recovery help on the property. To qualify, a person has to have been homeless for more than a year and have at least one certified physical or mental disability, executive director Sarah Grounds told the Flyer. She said last year that county data showed about 1,300 people on a waitlist who might qualify for that kind of housing.

Grounds told KTUL the point is more than a roof. She said the village pulls together relationships and services "so people can have everything that they need."

Haley Kardokus, the foundation's development and communications director, said the group modeled the village on Community First Village in Austin, Texas, and raised the $26.1 million over three years, mostly from private donors. "Housing alone will not solve homelessness, but it has to be housing coupled with community," she told the Flyer.

City Lights is already looking at adding more homes on the property, but it would first need more land rezoned for multifamily housing.