Catholic Charities investing $6.5M in Stockyards neighborhood

Catholic Charities is set to invest more than $6.5 million in the Stockyards neighborhood as it seeks to expand services to women needing safe shelter.

Patrick Raglow, director of Catholic Charities in Oklahoma City, is working with a Las Vegas company to introduce pre-manufactured homes with the hope that the idea will spread to other areas of Oklahoma City in need of affordable housing.

At the same time, Catholic Charities is renovating and expanding its day shelter for homeless women and children. The shelter at 2311 SW 11, once the home of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, is within walking distance of Exchange Avenue, the heart of the commercial stretch of the Stockyards.

The new duplexes, meanwhile, are set to be installed at 1101 S Youngs Boulevard, which is just a two-minute walk from the shelter.

“Access to affordable housing is the single most preventative thing we can do for every single social determinant of health,” Raglow said. “There is nothing more preventative Oklahoma City can do, what Oklahoma can do, to address every single determinant of health than to increase the amount of and access to affordable housing.”

Catholic Charities started providing services in the Stockyards neighborhood in 2009 when it converted the former Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission Church into a day shelter for women and children.

“It could accommodate about 50 people,” Raglow said. “It was too small to be useful as a church in the modern era with the shortage of priests and the explosion of a very welcome Hispanic population in Oklahoma.”

It was when the church was being closed and donated to Catholic Charities that the organization was approached by then Oklahoma City Police Chief Bill Citty.

“We are partners with the Homeless Alliance,” Raglow said. “They are zero barriers, so the people they help can include sex offenders, felons, the mentally unwell, those with addictions and intoxication. They have a place where they can find shelter with zero barriers.”

Citty, however, was concerned that some women without housing were avoiding homeless services where they might encounter ex-boyfriends or men with a history of sex offenses or addiction.

“It was a common thing and always has been,” Citty said. “At the time, there was a lack of support.”

Police, Citty said, were not equipped to adequately address the needs of women and children on the streets and those fleeing domestic violence. At the same time Citty approached Catholic Charities about assisting homeless women, he also worked with an array of organizations and government agencies to create the Palomar Family Justice Center.

“We had a lot of cases where women didn’t want to come to police,” Citty said. “They were afraid to come for help. They needed help with finding a job, a place to live or getting drug counseling.”

The former church operated for 14 years and served as an introductory step to finding women housing, Raglow said.

“It has served in beautiful fashion,” Raglow said. “But it was never designed for this. It had a tiny indoor toilet, and we converted that space to a shower and toilet. We had a parish room for donuts and coffee, and meetings.”

The expanded shelter is being built with donations from the Love family and Loves Travel Centers, United Way, the Inasmuch Foundation and the Kirkpatrick Family Fund.

Once complete, the shelter will span 7,800 square feet, including a 1,200-square-foot secondary building with three times the capacity for showers, four times the laundry amenities, and twice the capacity for case management.

The operation will be an introduction to getting services, Raglow said, with the duplexes acting as temporary transitional housing.

The housing, Raglow said, may serve as a model for other affordable housing efforts. A 2021 Oklahoma City study reported the city lacks adequate housing for 44% of residents earning below the area median income of $74,400 for an average household.

“The clients we work with get a housing voucher for six months and they think they’ve got Willy Wonka’s golden ticket,” Raglow said. “But they expire before they can find housing. It's a repeat, repeat story.”

The duplexes will be quickly installed and opened once they are manufactured and delivered by Boxabl in Las Vegas. The pre-manufactured homes can be assembled in multiple levels and will be two-stories high at the Caritas Casitas duplexes.

Each unit is 370 square feet and includes a washer and dryer, bathroom, dishwasher, stove and kitchen. All the residents will need, Raglow said, is a bed and a couch.

“This place in north Las Vegas is doing 10 houses a day, and they’re going to 10 an hour, and they want to go higher still,” Raglow said. “They will be able to provide affordable housing very quickly.”

Raglow said the units are not mobile homes and they are tested to endure 150 mph winds. Utilities for the units will run about $30 a month.

“They are not the answer to affordable housing, but they’re part of the answer to affordable housing,” Raglow said. “We hope when people see these going in, they will say 'yes' to being in my backyard, not 'no' to my backyard. Affordable housing done well is a blessing to the community, neighbors, residents and taxpayers. It prevents so many other downstream effects.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Catholic Charities spending $6.5 million expanding help for OKC homeless