Housing shortages and rising rents go hand-in-hand with supply-demand economics. When supply is low and demand is high, one can reasonably assume costs will rise. 

Rising rents in Oklahoma have led to a surge in evictions. Oklahoma City is on track to top last year’s 17,868 eviction filings, and Tulsa is trending toward the same numbers as 2023. 

Local and national experts discussed the reasons for Oklahoma’s dramatic rent hikes in recent years and the growing number of evictions the state is experiencing. 

Some experts said high rents are a natural result of Oklahoma’s housing deficit. Inflation is a factor generally assumed. Oklahoma City Housing Authority’s executive director said Oklahoma’s rising rents are a side effect of a different deficit – landlords trying to recoup money lost during pandemic-era eviction moratoriums and rental assistance funds that have dried up. 

Karey Landers, the executive director of the Apartment Association of Central Oklahoma, said in an email to Oklahoma Watch that skyrocketing multifamily unit insurance rates have played a big role in the rising cost of multifamily unit rents. She said that multi-unit insurance rates in Oklahoma have more than doubled and, in some cases, tripled. 

An Unnatural Housing Disaster 

A recent New York Times study showed that Oklahomans’ home insurance, relative to home values, is more expensive than nearly anywhere else in America. The report states that rising insurance rates nationwide are blamed on climate change, though Oklahoma insurance rates top those of New Orleans, Paradise, Calif., and the Florida Keys, places where natural disasters are far more common and likely than Oklahoma. 

Oklahoma’s lax oversight of regulators’ scrutiny for rate increases places the state at the heart of the country’s highest premiums. Compared to some jurisdictions where regulators closely scrutinize justifications for rate hikes, Oklahoma’s oversight of rate increases is minimal. 

A monumental jump in Oklahoma City’s population could also be a factor in rising rents in the state’s capital city. Oklahoma City was one of only 14 cities nationwide to experience a hike of more than 100,000 residents between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. The state is short 77,000 housing units, most of which fall into the category of affordable housing rather than market-rate. 

“There’s a big gap between the supply of housing that’s available and the amount of housing that’s demanded,”  said Jacob Haas, a research specialist at Princeton University’s Eviction Lab. “That’s the case nationwide.”

Haas said that as the nation’s housing crisis worsens, a surge has occurred among people who prefer to rent rather than buy homes.

“There are more renter households now, and more renter households at different income levels in past years,” he said.

Haas specified that households with incomes between $45,000 and $75,000 per year are entering the rental sector more often than in past years.

Mark Gillette, executive director of Oklahoma City Housing Authority, speculated that supply and demand are less responsible for the state’s rent hikes.

“When COVID moratoriums were in place, landlords never really got that money,” Gillete said. “Yes, there was some money handed out through eviction moratorium relief, but it didn’t address 100% of the issues.”

Gillette said landlords deserve to be paid their rent. Raising rent prices after landlords experienced financial losses during the pandemic has allowed landlords to continue to provide housing while recouping some of the losses they’ve endured. 

Landlord Weighs In

Nick Jones is an owner of Carlsbad Management in Norman. He said supply and demand, combined with rising inflation, are to blame for rental prices.

“We have seen vast rent increases in the country, as well as OKC,” Jones said in an email to Oklahoma Watch. “This is primarily due to supply and demand and rising inflation on everyone’s goods and services.”

Jones said the problem has nothing to do with not being reimbursed for pandemic shortfalls. 

“Most operators follow the market and that’s how we decide where rents should be,” Jones said.

He said the consumer price index dropped recently and is showing a slowdown in rent inflation nationwide. 

He said the consumer price index tends to be a lagging indicator because tenants resign new leases every month. 

“Rent growth is way down, but rent wasn’t immune from all the inflation we have seen everywhere,” he said. “The more supply that is built in Oklahoma City, the slower the rent hikes will come as the competition becomes stronger.”

Years To Wait For Assistance 

About 30% of Oklahoma households are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their incomes on housing. Oklahoma City Housing Authority’s public housing and affordable housing units are at about 94% capacity and relief is far from sight, Gillette said. 

Gillette said money for housing vouchers, known as Section 8, is drying up, adding to the burden of high housing costs resulting from Oklahoma City’s exponential growth. 

“Our projections show us going into shortfall soon,” Gillette said. “We don’t know how to define soon but it’s very, very close.”

Gillette said people who already hold housing vouchers will not be affected, but until the new year, OCHA is unlikely to approve vouchers for new applicants. Depending on the extent of the shortfall, Gillette said, OCHA may elect to close the waiting list altogether. 

James Johnson, 37, said he applied for a voucher 18 months ago and is desperate for help. He’s had an eviction in the past and fears he is headed toward another soon. He has paid late fees nearly every month of the year he’s lived in his apartment.

“Rents are just too much,” Johnson said. “I can’t keep up and it’s, like, it’s killing me.”

Johnson pays $875 for a two-bedroom apartment on the city’s northeast side. A search of available two-bedroom Oklahoma City apartments online shows his rent is nearly as low as is available. 

“I have kids, a car, a job,” Johnson said. “I’m working 60 hours a week and still can’t make it happen. It’s really depressing me.”

Section 8 Bracing for Evictions 

Gillette said that OCHA has begun filing more evictions against voucher holders who are seriously delinquent in paying rent, making matters worse for some of Oklahoma’s lowest-paid residents. Whereas traditional landlords can raise their rents, Oklahoma’s 83 housing authority properties have no such luxury. 

Oklahomans receiving housing vouchers are expected to pay 30% of their income toward rent, while OCHA pays the remainder. With stagnating wages, the financial strain of rising rents falls squarely on housing authorities, Gillette said.

“We are not doing a mass eviction,” Gillette said. “We are working with tenants individually, giving them an option to enter a payback agreement, working with our resident services department so they have access to help through case managers who can connect them with help.”

Gillette said inflation affects items such as appliances, wood, and other materials used to build homes. But he asserted that rising rents are not a result of inflation but of landlords working to recoup financial losses. And often, evictions are the unfortunate outcome of the rising tide of rental rates.

“We have a waitlist of over 10,000 people right now,” Gillette said. “So while more people might be eligible to apply, it’s a very long waitlist. You’re talking multiple years.”

Oklahomans earning the state’s lowest wages don’t have years to wait for rents to subside or more affordable housing to be built, Johnson said. 

“If we can’t get help with our rent, I don’t know what’s going to happen to me and my kids,” Johnson said. “I guess we’ll end up on the streets. And that’s the worst thing I can imagine.”

 

Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.

Heather Warlick is a reporter covering evictions, housing and homelessness.

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