CW: Homelessness
When Claudine Wilson, who is disabled, left an Oklahoma hospital this month, she was hoping to put the awful experience behind her. She suffered heatstroke after her temperature reached 105 degrees. There was no air conditioning in the house where she was staying, and there was no fridge or stove. The doctors said going back to that house would be dangerous for her.
What Wilson didn’t expect was that finding a safe place to go next would prove just as difficult. She had never been homeless before. After her long-term relationship ended, she moved into a house in Okmulgee. When she was discharged from the hospital, she was taken to a local shelter.
Staff asked if she could get up from a mat on the floor. She explained that because of her disability, she couldn’t. She can get up from a bed or chair, but not from the floor. And the shelter turned her away.
For Wilson, the barrier was simple. For most people, sleeping on a mat on the floor may seem like a minor detail. However, for disabled people, it can mean the difference between having a place to stay and being on the street.
National data shows that what happened to Wilson is part of a concerning pattern. Federal data shows that a high percentage of homeless people are also disabled. A 2024 Census Bureau analysis found that 35 percent of people living in emergency or transitional shelters had a disability.
Older data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development showed an even higher rate, with 47.3 percent of adults in shelters having a disability. This overlap is especially clear when looking at chronic homelessness. HUD actually includes having a disability in its definition of chronic homelessness, along with being homeless continuously for a year or repeatedly over a three-year period. People like Wilson end up in difficult situations because the available options just were not built for them.
Permanent housing is not much better. Nationally, just six percent of housing is considered accessible. That means that disabled people are already at a disadvantage even before arriving at a shelter.
Pastor Chris Stephens, who runs a small outreach program, called shelters for days looking for one that could accommodate Wilson’s needs. No shelter could accommodate her. At one point, she was left in a closed building overnight. She also spent the night at a QuikTrip convenience store. Unfortunately, she also lost her medication in the process.
Wilson’s experience highlights how the very systems we depend on are often the hardest to access. For disabled people facing an emergency, accessing help is a real struggle. Accessibility is not a convenience. It helps keep people safe. Accessibility must be considered in emergency housing.
Sources:
Glenn, Makayla. “Tulsa Woman Says Disability, Shelter Limitations Leave Her Without a Place to Stay as Hotel Help Runs Out.” News 6, 21 Aug. 2026.
Solari, Claudia D., et al. The 2016 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress: Part 2—Estimates of Homelessness in the United States. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Dec. 2017.
https://www.huduser.gov/PORTAL/publications/2016-ahar-part-2-estimates-of-homelessness.html
Sousa, Tanya de, and Meghan Henry. The 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress: Part 1—Point-in-Time Estimates of Homelessness. Abt Global, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 27 Dec. 2024.
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/2024-ahar-part-1-pit-estimates-of-homelessness.html
“New Survey Data Provides Demographic Profile of Population Experiencing Homelessness Who Lived in Emergency and Transitional Shelters.” United States Census Bureau, 27 Feb. 2024.
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2024/02/living-in-shelters.html
Warnock, Rob. “How Accessible Is the Housing Market?” Apartment List, 19 Feb. 2020, http://www.apartmentlist.com/research/how-accessible-is-the-housing-market.