Affordable Housing Programs

The Tulsa Housing Strategy

The Tulsa Housing Strategy serves as a roadmap for how to meet current and future housing demand as identified by the Citywide Housing Assessment conducted in 2023. The Tulsa Housing Strategy is a key component of Tulsa’s Path to Home initiative, a comprehensive set of action steps, programs and resources to address homelessness at the intersection of housing and mental health.

Key findings from the citywide housing assessment include:

• 13,000 housing units in Tulsa are needed across the next decade across all income levels.
• 4,000 units are needed today.

4 key strategies

1. Increase funding

• Secure private and public funds for housing development through grants, loans and other investment tools
• Provide rental assistance to reduce evictions and support working Tulsans
• Improve resources for landlords renting to low-income Tulsans

2. Facilitate development

• Regularly map and proactively acquire priority sites to support housing development across the city
• Establish a “pre-approved plans” program to help developers build homes faster and more efficiently, regardless of housing type
• Establish and fund City of Tulsa staff positions dedicated to greenlighting housing projects more quickly

3. Prioritize housing development in downtown Tulsa & commercial areas

• Identify and acquire a legacy commercial site that can be transitioned to housing
• Convert underutilized downtown office buildings to quality, affordable housing
• Prioritize neighborhood support and resident engagement to expedite development

4. Improve processes & policies

• Form a community-wide coalition to advocate for housing development and policy changes
• Streamline key City processes and regulations to support and expedite housing development
• Establish a City program that prioritizes affordable housing projects and expedites the pathway and timeline for successful development

The Tulsa Housing Strategy overview is available here. You can read the Tulsa Housing Strategy in its entirety here.

Incentives for Housing Development

PartnerTulsa and the City of Tulsa offer a variety of incentives and supports for Affordable Housing Development, designed to address a multitude of factors that are critical to developing and preserving housing across the City.

• Affordable Housing Trust Fund: Provides incentives to support the development and preservation of affordable housing units.  
• Tax Increment Finance Districts: Location-specific incentives designed to spur outcomes within a geography. Existing TIF Districts in Downtown Tulsa and at 36th Street North and Peoria offer housing assistance to qualifying projects.  
• Brownfields and Land Recycling: Grants and loans designed to support assessment and remediation efforts for sites with environmental concerns or identified issues.  
• Permitting Assistance: PartnerTulsa’s staff offers concierge support to housing projects  
• City of Tulsa HUD Resources: The City of Tulsa receives and allocates annual and special appropriations of housing-related grants, including CDBG, HOME, ESG, and HOPWA.  
• Just Home Project: PartnerTulsa received an initial $370,000 grant as part of a national initiative launched by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Urban Institute designed to advance community-driven efforts to break the link between housing instability and jail incarceration.  

Neighborhood Infill Overlay

The Neighborhood Infill Overlay is a zoning development initiative set to allow property owners and developers to build residential housing that accommodates the needs of those living in the area. Current regulations make it difficult to build the types of housing that were historically abundant in the neighborhoods surrounding downtown a hundred years ago: duplexes, townhomes, multi-unit houses, quadplexes, and small apartment buildings. The ​​Neighborhood Infill Overlay is intended to make it easier to build these kinds of neighborhood-scale residences. The regulations are also intended to promote housing types that accommodate households of varying sizes and income levels and provide for a more efficient use of residential land.

Downtown Housing Study

Access the final report here.

The City of Tulsa partnered with St. Louis-based urban planning and real estate consulting firm Development Strategies to create a Housing Market Demand Study & Strategy for Downtown Tulsa and its surrounding neighborhoods. The study generated a detailed assessment of housing needs in the project area, and crafted a holistic development and policy framework to guide equitable housing investments.

The primary objectives of the Housing Market Demand Study & Strategy were to:

• Develop a detailed understanding of housing needs in the project area and identify impediments to meeting those needs.
• Understand and respect the distinct identities and histories of communities within the project area.
• Identify ways in which housing development and preservation can reinforce other community priorities, such as in economic opportunity, workforce attraction, quality of life, and economic development.
• Create a development program to inform the approach to housing investment, including the redevelopment of opportunity sites in the project area.
• Identify the potential to create new tools and policies that allow housing development to better meet community needs in each of the neighborhoods within the project area.
• Evaluate the potential for a wide range of housing typologies that could better meet housing needs and community goals.
• Identify roles for a wide range of partners in the creation of attractive and attainable housing opportunities