TULSA, Okla. — One homeless Tulsa man calls himself, "Chill Peace."
2 News met him at the Denver Avenue Bus station. Chances are, he slept nearby, because, in his words, he has nowhere else to turn. The shelters, he said, are often full.
"They can’t take everyone," Chill Peace said.
Housing and Urban Development estimates about 650,000 Americans are homeless. The latest Point in Time count shows nearly 1,500 of them are Tulsans.
WATCH: 2 News takes a closer look at the latest PiT count:
Grants Pass, a small city in Oregon, began fining people $295 for sleeping outside. they said it is to clean up encampments and make the streets safer. The U.S. Supreme Court is going to hear a lawsuit brought up over that Grants Pass law.
"They just wanna say, it’s homeless people – well where we gonna go?' Chill Peace asked. "You give a place, somewhere to go, then I can see you fining them, until then, I don’t see it."
Chill Peace suggests a government-run facility.
"Police [are] there, staying calm, and they know how to deal with people. There’s a lot of people that need different type of help. And they would do that at a city-county facility," he said.
After Mayor GT Bynum proposed a new budget to city council, he floated similar ideas to the media.
"One of the things that the city council and I have heard, from a lot of service providers, and first responders, is the need for somebody at the city that’s helping coordinate especially the encampment cleanups that we’re doing," Bynum said, "A lot more of now, than we might have been doing a couple of years ago."
Part of the issue contributing to the homeless count in Tulsa is affordable housing. The city recently announced part of their plan to give more people access to affordable living.
WATCH: PATH TO HOME: New recommendations announced to address Tulsa's homelessness:
Chill Peace, for the most part, is against fines for sleeping on the streets but for some, the "1%," he could see it working. The 1% of homeless people, he says, who cause issues and deny help.
Tulsa does have shelters available, including the Tulsa Day Center andJohn 3:16 Mission— they help a portion of those in need in Tulsa.
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