TX think tank drives OK laws

Alexia Aston

The Oklahoman USA TODAY NETWORK

Model bills adopted on homelessness, addiction

An Austin, Texas-based think tank is acting as a powerful force behind Oklahoma legislation that aims to criminalize homeless encampments and mandate addiction treatment.

The Cicero Institute is a conservative public policy organization that drafts model legislation related to homelessness, health care, education, public safety and regulatory reform. It was founded by Joe Lonsdale, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who backed Donald Trump’s campaign for president in 2024.

Local homelessness service providers say prioritizing housing for people experiencing homelessness is an effective, evidence-based model. But the Cicero Institute believes the “housing first” model doesn’t work, and is working at the Capitol to push its policy ideas that have already complicated the work of advocates in the state.

Oklahoma adopted the Cicero Institute’s model anti-camping legislation in 2024, prohibiting camping on stateowned land along highways and turnpikes. Critics have said the bill crimi-

nalizes homelessness and doesn’t solve the problem.

Laws modeled after the group’s bill also have passed in several other states, including Florida, Texas and Missouri.

Like in Oklahoma, Republicans across the country have increasingly targeted homelessness. In July, Trump declared that homeless services receiving federal funding must focus first on locking up people with drug or mental health challenges. A month later, Trump announced plans to seize control of the police department in Washington, DC, and sweep homeless people off the city’s streets.

In September, Gov. Kevin Stitt ordered state troopers to clear homeless encampments in Tulsa and arrest the people living in them or drive them to treatment or housing.

Paul Webster, a senior fellow for the Cicero Institute, told The Oklahoman that the group has been heavily involved in the effort to ban camping statewide and expand involuntary civil commitment, or court-ordered treatment, for people with substance use disorder or severe mental illness.

The group’s website says that homeless encampments have deteriorated shared public spaces over the last decade. It claims that the crime and safety issues that accompany encampments make them susceptible to violence, exploitation and drug trafficking.

On Oct. 20, Webster spoke at a 3 1/ 2-- hour interim study in the state House on oversight of homeless shelters. Invited by two Republican lawmakers, Rep. Kevin West, of Moore, and Sen. Lisa Standridge, of Norman, Webster called progressive policies like those focused on permanent supportive housing ineffective.

He added that policies focusing on data-informed and evidence-based practices like the “housing first” model are problematic because “homeless advocacy groups manipulate data to support their agendas.”

Webster’s assessment caused advocates and service providers in the room to exchange glances and quiet whispers as he suggested that focusing on permanent housing does not reduce the number of people living and dying on the streets or address the root causes of homelessness.

“The goal should be ending the permissive, dangerous and unhealthy practice of living on the street and in encampments,”Webster said. “Over the last 20 years, the focus has been on increasing the amount of affordable housing in the hopes that subsidized housing combined with services will

“Housing is not necessarily appropriate for people with addictions and untreated mental illness. Treatment is.”

Paul Webster

Senior fellow for the Cicero Institute