You don’t have to be an economist to know that housing isn’t going so hot. It’s a nationwide problem, but The Frontier’s got an interesting, thorough piece of enterprise reporting this week on Oklahoma’s landlords, some of whom have figured out that they can maximize their profits by—in an extremely efficient way, mind you—not accepting Section 8 housing vouchers.
It’s better for the bottom line, a corporate landlord tells us, because skipping the voucher process also lets the landlord skip inspections! Meanwhile, according to Maddy Keyes’ reporting:
Oklahoma has a deficit of around 77,000 affordable rental units. The largest gaps for those who are extremely low income are concentrated in the state’s largest cities including Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Norman, according to the most recent state data.
So basically, the housing deficit has landlords in a position to increase rent and turn down renters relying on those clunky old Section 8 vouchers. Yikes! I wonder how long the old fixtures of liberal society can keep propping all this up.
And in local news worth your time this week:
- Cherokee and Kiowa filmmaker Loren Waters won an award at Sundance for her documentary “Tiger” about Muscogee Creek artist Dana Tiger
- The Cherokee Nation won an $80M settlement with the federal government
- A ton of your local favorites are up for James Beard awards
- Nonprofits across the state were frozen out of a federal payments portal earlier this week
- Ryan Walters is snitching to the feds on immigrant families
- Walters also just can’t stop getting investigated
- QuikTrip collaborated with Marshall Brewing Company on an update to its Quittin’ Time beer and, more importantly, I tried it
- Tulsa Artist Fellowship announced its 2025-2027 awardees
- KOSU tagged along for OKC’s annual Point In Time count
- Tulsa Public Schools is working with Green Country Habitat for Humanity to help teachers buy homes
- Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt posted cringe on main