The governor’s coordinator on homelessness said about 45 percent of the $1.3 million Gov. David Ige allocated under an emergency proclamation to address the issue statewide will go to Neighbor Island programs.
According to Scott Morishige, $607,100 will be “spread out around the state” while the rest, about $700,000, will be used to help alleviate Oahu’s homeless situation.
“We realize homelessness is not just on Oahu; it really is an issue that impacts every community throughout Hawaii on every island,” Morishige said Wednesday. “We’re estimating that the $1.3 million will assist an estimated 1,000 new individuals statewide to be able to get help between now and July 31 of next year.”
This year’s point-in-time survey, taken in late January and early February, counted 1,241 homeless people on Hawaii Island, up from 869 in 2014 and 557 in 2013. Most of the homeless identified in the survey, 69 percent, have lived on the island for a decade or more.
Morishige said he didn’t have an immediate breakdown of moneys earmarked for Hawaii Island.
“Specifically, on Hawaii Island, we’re seeking to increase the level of funding for HOPE Services, which currently administers the Housing Placement Program on the island, as well as Catholic Charities Hawaii, which administers the state Homeless Emergency Grant Program,” he explained. “We’re also working with Bridging the Gap, which is a coalition of homeless service providers on the Neighbor Islands, to start to roll out funding for Housing First.
“Right now, we only have Housing First services on Oahu. So part of the governor’s intent is to expand Housing First to the other islands, working closely with Bridging the Gap. The provider likely would be HOPE Services, which is a member of Bridging the Gap.”
Morishige said Housing First’s focus “is to get people off the streets into homes as quickly as possible.”
“Once somebody is stabilized with a roof over their head, you can provide them with wrap-around case management services they need to maintain their housing,” he said. “Housing First is a program that has worked nationally. In other communities, it’s been really successful in reducing the rate of chronic homeless in a number of other states. We do have a successful Housing First program funding by the state here on Oahu, which has funded 75 chronically homeless households over the course of the past year.”
Chad Cabral, director of development for HOPE Services Hawaii, said his organization has been told it will receive $108,000 “to basically build our capacity with the Housing Placement Program to house more homeless families on Hawaii Island.”
“It’s basically to help families find housing in the private rental market,” Cabral said.
“We help them with utility deposits and first month’s rent, which will not work unless we have a coordinated effort and partnerships with landlords in the community. So we need help with the community in helping us establish rental housing.”
Cabral described the task of placing homeless families into private rentals as “a challenge,” even with the financial assistance.
“Homeless families may not have the rental histories that a lot of realty companies and private landlords require,” he said. “They require references and rental histories, as well as the deposits. So even if we provide the deposits, some landlords are reluctant because of the stigma attached to homelessness and the lack of rental histories.”
Another difficulty, Cabral said, is even with placement, families whose adults make the minimum wage, $7.75 an hour, might not be able to keep up with the rent.
“Currently, on Hawaii Island, you need to make $22.13 an hour to have an annual income of $46,000 to afford a two-bedroom apartment. The fair market rent averages $1,151 a month,” he said. “We have jobs available on Hawaii Island but most of them are paying close to minimum wage, and there’s not enough (living) wage earning jobs out there. At a current minimum wage, you’d have to work 114 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom apartment on Hawaii Island.”
Cabral said HOPE Services placed 156 families with 625 individuals into housing in the fiscal year that ended June 30.
Rona Fukumoto, Catholic Charities Hawaii’s administrator for housing services, said her organization will receive $150,000 to administer the State Homeless Emergency Grant for Hawaii, Maui and Kauai counties, but was unable to break down what dollar amount would go to each county.
“We’re looking forward to being able to serve more people on Hawaii Island at this point,” Fukumoto said.
“Our program can pay for rent, deposit, utilities — anything that could make a family homeless or get them out of homelessness and stabilize them.”
Fukumoto said the SHEG program, which covers families, individuals and childless couples, is geared more toward the working poor or those who recently have become homeless, not the chronically homeless.
“They need to be able to pay for housing on their own at some point within a few months,” she said. “Our funding is unique to each situation. … This particular program doesn’t have a heavy emphasis on case management, but we follow them for six months to make sure they’re stable … helping them problem-solve, making sure their relationship with their landlord is solid, that everything’s OK and they’re going to be successful in permanent housing.”
Fukumoto said the grant to Catholic Charities assisted 140 people in 55 households during the past fiscal year.
For assistance or information, call HOPE Services at 935-3050 or Catholic Charities at 935-4763.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
