SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Californians from Sacramento to Los Angles are packing up their bags to live in more affordable cities. Housing prices have left some homeless and some scratching their head as to where to go next.
Tulsa, Oklahoma, is recruiting Californians and others by offering $10,000 for people who move there and work remotely through the Tulsa Remote program.
Tulsa is touting access to a high quality of life, a low cost of living, a lack of pollution, and little traffic, along with the $10,000.
A Tulsa Remote spokesperson told ABC10 that 179 of its more than 1,000 participants have moved to Tulsa from California. Many are coming from the Los Angeles area.
As for Sacramento, we talked with, Amnoni Myers, a child welfare consultant. Myers said she moved to Sacramento from the Bay Area after getting her master's degree because she thought it would be more affordable.
"I thought I would be able to save since graduating and I wasn't necessarily able to really do that," Myers said. "I looked for another opportunity somewhere else where I could move that would be a bit cheaper and I found Tulsa Remote."
Myers said she's not sure if she will return to the Sacramento area after the Tulsa Remote program because she's been locked into her rent price for two years. She said if she comes back, it's going to be pricier.
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"Rent has been increasing. And even though my rent has only increased twice, it has been pretty costly to live here," Myers said about Sacramento. "It's just not affordable to be able to build and to start a family here. So being able to move to Tulsa, I think that it will allow me to have more opportunities and an opportunity to be able to really save."
Tulsa Remote says that more than 90% of the Tulsa Remote members have stayed in Tulsa beyond their one-year commitment.
Myers said she would like to see Sacramento create a program similar to Tulsa Remote.
"It's a really family-centered community," Myers said about Sacramento.
ABC10 reached out to Sacramento's Department of Community Response to find out what the city is doing to keep people in town as housing costs increase.
Department of Community Response Spokesperson Gregg Fishman said the city doesn't have a specific program focused on relocation but the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency tries to foster more housing.
To receive the $10,000 residents have to apply to the Tulsa Remote program. It's funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation. It doesn't offer jobs because it wants people to keep working remotely.
Read more about the Tulsa program HERE.
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