This evening, the Tulsa City Council passed a set of amendments to the zoning code designed to encourage more housing development in Tulsa.

The amendments are the latest in a series of steps the City of Tulsa has taken as part of its Path to Home Initiative to increase housing supply in light of the 2023 Housing Assessment, which identified a need for 12,900 new housing units in the next 10 years, and an immediate pent-up demand for 4,000 units.

The amendments are aimed at making it easier to develop housing in a number of ways. Among other changes, they will allow more housing types in commercial districts, facilitate the conversion of office buildings and hotels to housing and make it easier to build to garage apartments and backyard cottages. The batch of amendments will also simplify and relax mandatory parking requirements, allowing builders more flexibility to determine how much parking they need.

“From funding that helps us implement programs to increase housing, to the way our zoning code looks, we are addressing Tulsa’s housing needs in an entirely new and comprehensive way,” Mayor G.T. Bynum said. “I am confident we are setting the right path forward for housing investment in our city and I am thankful for everyone who is continuing to play a part in this effort.”

“Modernizing Tulsa's zoning code is a critical step in tackling our housing crisis,” District 4 City Councilor Laura Bellis said. “Zoning policies have a significant impact on affordable housing and I hope we methodically continue to make needed changes to meet the moment. It's a been a privilege to collaborate with our planning office to address our housing needs and put forth policies that will make people's lives better.

Officials with the Tulsa Planning Office say that Tulsa’s current parking requirements have led to an overabundance of parking and have stymied new home construction and development. “Each parking space we require developers to build, whether they need them or not, drives up the cost of housing and development,” says Daniel Jeffries, a principal planner in the Tulsa Planning Office. “Parking is expensive to build and maintain, and those costs get passed on to homeowners, renters, and consumers.”

“Parking also takes up a significant amount of land and often prevents new housing from being built on vacant lots,” says Susan Miller, director of the Tulsa Planning Office. “Our requirements made even duplexes challenging to build in neighborhoods across the city.” Miller says that the new, reduced requirements will help unlock land in Tulsa for new houses. “Our mandatory parking requirements are not the only hindrances to housing development, but they are often the deciding factor in whether new housing gets built.”

This summer, Miller and Jeffries presented a series of trivia-style educational sessions to the City Council and others about housing construction and preferences, Census data, building permits, car ownership, regulations, and more. Many were surprised to learn that 36% of Tulsans live alone, nearly 70% of Tulsa households have only one or two people, and that roughly 75% of Tulsa households do not include children. Also revealed in the sessions were figures showing that renters represent 49% of all Tulsa households, 65% of all land in Tulsa only allows detached, single-family homes, only 16% allows multi-unit residential buildings, and only 8% allows garage apartments/backyard cottages by right. In addition, more than 13,000 households in Tulsa do not have access to a vehicle, and Tulsa renters are more likely to only own a single vehicle, if they own one at all.

This information and more contributed to the development of the zoning code amendments passed tonight. The amendments were first introduced in March 2023, and their adoption was recommended in the City’s Path to Home initiative earlier this year. After a series of meetings, presentations, and educational sessions, and amid more than a dozen letters of support, the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission in September unanimously voted to recommend their approval to the City Council. With tonight’s City Council adoption, the amendments will take effect in about a month.

For more information about the City’s Path to Home Initiative, visit www.cityoftulsa.org/PathToHome.

For more information about Tulsa’s housing trends and planning initiatives, visit www.tulsaplanning.org/housing. For additional inquiries, please contact the Tulsa Planning Office staff at [email protected]. 

ABOUT PATH TO HOME

The Path to Home Initiative is a central source for all programming as it relates to homelessness, housing, and mental health within the City of Tulsa. The initiative gives a comprehensive overview of all programming and policy work at the local government level focused on helping individuals experiencing homelessness or struggling with mental health, promoting citywide housing efforts, and supporting the work of dedicated service providers. To learn more about the Path to Home Initiative, visit: www.cityoftulsa.org/pathtohome