Our Motto
"It's All About People"
Our Mission
To provide affordable, decent, safe, and sanitary housing or housing
assistance, with quality environments and opportunities to low income
people of Oklahoma City.
General
The Oklahoma City Housing Authority is located
near the intersection of two major interstate highways, I-35 and I-40, in the
capital city of Oklahoma.
Established in September, 1965, the OCHA currently owns Public
Housing consisting of 3,140 units. In addition, the OCHA administers
approximately 3,860 units of Section 8 Housing in the
Oklahoma City area. This enables us to provide housing and rental
assistance to low-income people and their families with the availability of
7,000 dwelling units.
In addition to our two housing programs, we offer or
contract many assistance and training programs to help our residents in
becoming self-reliant, for the Oklahoma City Housing Authority is a
"Hand Up, not a Hand Out".
Bit of History
The Oklahoma City Housing Authority was established in 1965
following the passage of the National Housing Act of 1949 and the adoption of
Oklahoma enabling legislation in 1959. A five-member Board of
Commissioners was appointed by the Mayor with concurrence of the City Council on
July 13, 1965.
In August of 1965, the Board of Commissioners of the Housing
Authority resolved to cooperate fully with the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal
Authority to house persons displaced by Urban Renewal.
The first Acting Executive Director of the Housing Authority
was appointed on October 13, 1965, and the first permanent Executive Director
was appointed on February 9, 1966.
On November 8, 1965, a program reservation for 1,200 units of
low-income housing was approved by the City Council for development by the
Oklahoma City Housing Authority
The first dwellings to be operated by the Oklahoma City
Housing Authority came as a result of the transfer of Will Rogers Courts from
the United States Government to the Housing Authority on April 1, 1966.
The first new developments to be completed by the Housing
Authority were Shartel
Towers, consisting of 201 apartments and Fred Factory
Gardens, consisting of 74 apartments. Both developments were completed in
1969.
