TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa Housing Authority is offering landlord training to encourage more real estate professionals to tap into the affordable housing realm.
While they've been offering some training for a few years, the content and depth has expanded over the last year with the help of Kathy Holt. Before joining THA, Holt spent nearly three decades in real estate all across Green Country.
“The average tenant in Tulsa, Oklahoma stays just slightly over two years… and this is an independent study. The average THA tenant stays for 7 to 10 years,” said Holt. "There's where your money is.... By keeping that tenant in there 7 to 10 years, you just saved thousands so that's probably the biggest thing that we teach and we want you to know as a landlord."
Local News
THA invested nearly $180M in housing development in 2024
Holt is training people like Mat Zalk, owner of Key Renter Property Management, and his team on how to be successful.
They have about 1500 properties across Tulsa and hundreds in other cities. While their regular properties don't differ much from their THA properties, Zalk said there are some governmental nuances that can make renting confusing — which is why they attend the training sessions.
“Just because they're subsidized by HUD or by the local housing authority doesn't, you know, doesn't doesn't change anything," said Zalk. "We want the houses to be occupied so that our owners get a return on investment and they have great qualified tenants that are that need places to live.”
From introducing the way THA does business, to how landlords can make more money, to handling inspections and processes, Holt does it all with landlords in mind.
It's those like Mat Zalk, who has been working with THA since 2017 through his company Key Renter Property Management. He said he's found a great partnership in being able to fill up his properties with THA's clients.
“Just because they're subsidized by HUD or by the local housing authority doesn't, you know, doesn't doesn't change anything. We want the houses to be occupied so that our owners get a return on investment and uh they have great qualified tenants that are that need places to live.”
He sends his team to training to get better versed on the nuances that come with working with THA and the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“There's a process that we have to follow to get them rented to a voucher holding tenant, but realistically, it doesn't differ much from conventional leasing except from the process that you have to follow, which is of course signing a request for tenancy approval, getting all that paperwork submitted, doing an inspection and having routine inspections after that," said Zalk.
After three classes, landlords will receive their Affordable Housing Landlord Certification.
THA is seeing about 40 landlords attending their classes. So far in 2025, they've recruited 20 new landlords. They'd like to add 150-200 more this year.
And to those who have concerns about getting into subsidized or affordable housing rentals, Zalk said that way of thinking should be a thing of the past.
“At least with Housing Choice vouchers, we know that a significant portion of the rent is going to be covered by HUD and by Tulsa Housing Authority, so there are probably fewer evictions," he said. "I don't know the statistics, but there are probably fewer evictions among voucher holding tenants because the rent is automatically going to be paid.”
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
