Today, the City of Tulsa released an RFP to create a Pre-Reviewed Plans Program. Proposal are due by 5:00 p.m. on September 25, 2024. A pre-proposal conference will be held virtually on Wednesday, September 10, 2024, 9:00-11:00 a.m. (Central Time)

An overview, background information, and timeline are provided below. For more details and any updates, visit the official RFP webpage.

Overview and Goals

With this Request for Proposal (RFP), the City of Tulsa (“City”) is soliciting proposals to secure a professional architecture and design firm or teams of such firms with experience and technical qualifications (“Respondent”) to establish pre‑reviewed / permit‑ready housing plans services (“Program”). Such services will take the form of a Program to be jointly designed and implemented by the City and selected Respondent to encourage and expedite the construction of context‑sensitive infill housing of various types throughout Tulsa. The Program is expected to be available citywide, with a primary focus on traditional design.

This request for proposals centers on the selection, preparation, and licensing / ownership of housing plans that fit the context of a wide range of housing types and neighborhoods in Tulsa, in addition to analysis of and recommendations to update codes, processes, and procedures related to housing development. The City and selected Respondent will determine the most appropriate model for licensing/owning the plans and administering the program. Funding for this RFP is provided through federal ARPA funds, and the total budget shall not to exceed $250,000.

We enthusiastically look forward to receiving your proposal.

Background

As reported in the 2023 Tulsa Citywide Housing Assessment, there is pent‑up demand for 4,000 additional housing units in Tulsa today, with an overall anticipated demand of 12,900 units in the next 10 years. Currently, the city only permits an average of 830 housing units per year, a number that needs to increase by 55% to a total of 1,290 per year to meet demand.

The City of Tulsa is aware that there are many regulatory obstacles to building new homes, including regulations found in the zoning code, building code, and fire code, in addition to stormwater, water, and sewer infrastructure requirements, and extra approval processes for housing types other than detached houses that create a great deal of uncertainty for home builders. The City recognizes that there are also several non‑regulatory factors that make new housing construction more difficult and costly, including:

• Lot, building, and other standards imposed by lenders
• Bias against renters
• Lack of comparable properties for appraisals (i.e., an appraisal gap)
• Low holding costs for vacant lots
• Construction labor shortage
• Shortage of small‑scale developers
• Little local knowledge of products other than detached houses or large apartment complexes, among all groups in the development process, including designers, builders, lenders, real estate agents, and officials
• Bias against all other housing types in established neighborhoods
• Expectations of no change in established neighborhoods
• …and many more

Compounding the problem is the fact that 65% of land in Tulsa is zoned exclusively for single‑unit detached homes. Just 16% allows multi‑unit housing (duplexes and up) by right. As a result, duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes comprise only 7% of our existing housing stock, and townhouses only 3%.

Our housing stock is misaligned with the preferences of Tulsa residents. Of 1,778 respondents to a 2019 survey: 63% said they would like to live in a townhouse, 50% in a duplex, triplex, or quadplex, and 52% in a building with 10 or more units. 71% said they would live in a detached house, indicating that 29% prefer other housing types. Of 1,400 respondents in a 2020 survey, 63% supported expanding where duplexes are allowed, 48% for triplexes and quadplexes, 67% for townhouses, 60% for courtyard or garden apartments, 49% for walk‑up or mixed‑use apartments, and 68% for ADUs/backyard cottages.

The City of Tulsa has already undertaken several steps to analyze and address specific issues related to housing, including conducting housing studies, adopting zoning code amendments, forming partnerships with housing- and homelessness-focused philanthropies, the construction of new public housing units, funding a low-barrier shelter/residential care center, and increased funding for housing development initiatives. The City has developed partnerships with local philanthropies focused on affordable housing development and ending homelessness, and the Tulsa Planning Office continuously evaluates and proposes amendments to the zoning code to facilitate housing development. The Path to Home initiative provides a list of 33 action steps to address community needs.

The $104.2 million Tulsa Housing Initiative includes $75 million approved by Tulsa voters in 2023, plus $5 million from ARPA, $8.1 million from the Downtown Development & Redevelopment Fund, $5.1 million from HOME-ARP, $8.4 million in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and $2.7 million in Opioid Settlement funds.

The City is currently evaluating properties citywide that would be good candidates for new housing development, on both infill and greenfield sites. The City will promote these sites for housing development and is considering the purchase of properties to develop housing, potentially using plans developed as part of this Program. The Planning Director and the Housing Policy Director are also developing a concierge-like service for new middle housing developments.