A triad of nonprofits came together Friday to celebrate the opening of a new shelter and outreach center for young people experiencing homelessness.
The Youth Outreach and Supportive Housing Center in Hilo will offer 22 units of housing for young people between the ages of 15 and 24, as well as a youth center to connect at-risk youth with access to essential services. The project, developed by HOPE Services Hawaii, Neighborhood Place of Puna and the Salvation Army, opened Friday with a blessing ceremony, with operations to begin on March 3.
The housing center is located directly across from the Hilo Central Fire Station on Kinoole Street. HOPE Services signed a lease for the building — which most recently included a vape shop — on Feb. 1, and volunteers worked tirelessly to ready it for service as soon as possible, said HOPE Services CEO Brandee Menino.
“Over the years, we became aware of the big problem of youth living on the street,” said Paul Normann, executive director of Neighborhood Place of Puna. “We think we have a good estimate of how many young people are out there, but we know there’s probably more than we think.”
Sophia Anderson, who for two years experienced homelessness firsthand with her father and siblings when she was a teenager, said a facility like the outreach center would have greatly reduced the trauma of her experience, had it existed when she needed it.
“We were filthy and malnourished, we had lice,” Anderson said during an emotional address. “My father even wrote the president asking for help. … It took us two years to recover from one horrible day. In one day we lost our home, our belongings, our mother … our childhoods.”
Normann said stories like Anderson’s demonstrate the need for the center, which will serve as a refuge for youth who are “running, fearful and unmoored.”
Normann added that “we all know” the solution of homelessness is the availability of “deeply affordable housing” along with support programs that help people remain housed, and building toward that solution requires people to recognize that all people, regardless of their housing situation, are “human beings deserving of care and love.”
The three nonprofits each manage three facets of the center. HOPE Services is the master leaseholder and will manage the housing aspect, while Neighborhood Place of Puna will provide services at the Anchor Point Youth Center.
The Salvation Army, meanwhile, will offer housing support to young adults, particularly those aging out of the foster care system.
While Anchor Point is the name for only the youth center, Menino said a name for the overall project itself is still pending. She said she wants the young people who benefit from the center to name it themselves, so, for the time being, the descriptive title remains.
The shelter was funded through a $200,000 grant through the state Office on Homelessness and Housing Solution’s “kauhale” project, which has funded communal living spaces for unhoused people on Oahu.
However, while 22 units will be available for shelter — 20 studios and two two-bedroom units, although HOPE Services spokeswoman Kristen Alice said the studios can accommodate couples or single parents with a child — only two are move-in ready.
Alice said people can “sponsor” a unit by donating furniture or other items necessary to create a living space, such as cooking supplies, personal care items, linens and the like. Information about sponsoring a unit can be found at hopeserviceshawaii.org.
Mayor Kimo Alameda praised the center, calling it a solution the county needs, and described the three nonprofits a “triple whammy,” lauding them for their consistent work to combat homelessness.
“If we could replicate this in every part of the island, we should,” Alameda said.
Hilo Councilwoman Jenn Kagiwada, becoming emotional herself during the event, said that in today’s political climate, society’s most vulnerable people have found themselves under attack and need support now more than ever.
“I get emotional about this because I feel this deeply, and I know the people doing this work feel it, too,” Kagiwada said.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
