HIDDEN HOMELESS: Listening to Tulsan, Stacy Rusk
Dec 29, 2025
The wordhomelessmay evoke thoughts of someone sleeping on the streets. Someone waiting outside the day center. Someone standing on the street corner, asking for money. It is a prevalent form of homelessness, but it is not the on
ly kind.Homelessness extends deeper, to people like Stacy Rusk.WATCH: HIDDEN HOMELESS: Listening to Tulsan, Stacy Rusk HIDDEN HOMELESS: Listening to Tulsan, Stacy RuskRusk usually sleeps in, Hotels. Theyre very expensive. We can afford $1600 a month, or more, but we cant find a place to live, Rusk said.Rusk was a career accountant. She said she made $24 per hour keeping the books straight. She lost her job in 2020. Two years later, she lost her home.Never, in a million years, did Rusk imagine she would fall into homelessness.Rusk has a cellphone, a car and decent clothes. She picks up odd jobs, like delivering food via DoorDash. What she does not have is a home.Caring Works, a Georgia non-profit, categorizes homelessness into four groups. The following, is how leaders at Caring Works characterize each group. Chronic homelessness Rusk falls into theHidden category.I saw [Tulsa leaders] tearing down tents, and putting people in places to live, but theyre not helping me, Rusk said.For people like Rusk, the hidden homeless, attaining help might take a little more work. Persistence is key.HOMELESSNESS RESOURCES >>> The City of Tulsa has compiled a list of resources for people experiencing homelessness.Rusk, 60, has no savings or retirement money to her name. She is working her hardest to climb out of this deep hole.Pray a lot. Thats what I do. And hope God provides the next day, Rusk said.Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere -- 2 News Oklahoma on your schedule | Download on your TV, watch for free. How to watch on your streaming device Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices. Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram Watch LIVE 24/7 on YouTube
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