Volunteers Help The Homeless Find Permanent Homes In OKC

A national campaign to give the most at-risk homeless a permanent place to stay has started in Oklahoma City.

The 100,000 Homes Campaign is being used in more than 100 cities already.

Here in Oklahoma City, volunteers are conducting surveys at homeless camps to find the people with the most needs.

More than a 100 volunteers will visit some 50 homeless camps Monday through Wednesday morning to compile the list of the most in need people.

Each month, the seven people living under the worst circumstances will be able to move into a government funded home.

"It's unreasonable for us to expect for you to get stable on your meds when you're living under a bridge," the Homeless Alliance Executive Director Dan Straughan said.

The goal is to find all 230 chronically homeless in Oklahoma City a place to live, provide them services, and decrease the cost of homelessness.

Oklahoma City has more than 1,300 homeless people.

The Oklahoma City community spends approximately $28 million each year on homelessness through shelters, social services, emergency room visits and jail.

Nearly 60 percent of that is spent on the chronically homeless.