City homeless tally cites shelters’ use

The proportion of homeless people living on the streets of Honolulu has decreased, with more people getting help at shelters, according to an annual count released Thursday by the city.

"One thing we are pleased to see is there has been a proportional increase in the number of homeless people who are in shelters, where they are better able to access services than they would be on the street," said Bridget Holthus, deputy director of the city Department of Community Services.

"They receive services on an individualized basis, whether it’s mental health, medical care, help finding a job, help with public assistance. Shelters and other service providers are reporting to us that they are actually being successful in helping folks get into housing."

The Homeless Point-in-Time Count 2012, conducted Jan. 23, found 4,353 homeless people altogether on the island, up less than 3 percent from the previous year. Seventy percent of them, or 3,035 people, were in shelters — up from 68.7 percent or 2,912 in the previous year — while 1,318 lacked a roof over their heads. Virtually all the homeless who were part of families — 93 percent — were in shelters.

Islandwide the total number of homeless, both in and out of shelters, has grown at a relatively slow pace in the past few years after jumping 15 percent between 2009 and 2010 with the Great Recession. The number of people living on the streets began trending downward after reaching 1,374 in 2010, while the sheltered population has continued to tick upward by a percentage point or two in the past two years.

"The survey doesn’t give you a lot of information about why things are happening, but it does give you a snapshot that can be compared to previous years," said Darlene Hein, chief of community services for the Waikiki Health Center and coordinator of the Point-in-Time count.

"There was a slight decrease in unsheltered homeless," she said. "Any movement down is good because it means there are less homeless on the street."

"The report still shows the need for more housing — not necessarily more shelters, but just more housing," Hein added. "There has been some prog­ress, and now that we are on the upswing economically, hopefully we’ll be able to do that."

Different neighborhoods showed varying trends. The largest concentration of unsheltered homeless remains in downtown Hono­lulu, from Salt Lake to Piikoi Street, with 403 individuals living on the streets, or 30 percent of the islandwide total. That, however, was a drop from 448 last year.

"In the downtown area there was a 10 percent decline in the number of unsheltered homeless," said Connie Mitchell, executive director of the Institute for Human Services, which runs two large shelters in town. "That’s the first decrease in at least four years."

"It’s a combination of a lot of the collaboration that’s been going on between the city, the state and private nonprofit providers, plus the momentum of partnering with business and landlords," Mitchell said. "It’s all the community coming together. We know there remain people out there on the streets, but we are doing more."

The Institute for Human Services moved 565 people from shelters into transitional or permanent housing in the last fiscal year, Mitchell said.

In the East Honolulu district, which includes Ala Moana and Waikiki, the number of unsheltered homeless has seesawed over the past few years, perhaps as a result of authorities sweeping through parks to reclaim them for public use. That area, stretching from Piikoi Street to Hawaii Kai, had 304 unsheltered homeless in 2012, a big increase from the 2011 count of 235 but virtually identical to the 307 people found there in 2010.

On the Waianae Coast the number of unsheltered homeless fell for the second year in a row, to 280 people, down from 410 in 2010.

The report is a collaboration among the city, the state Department of Human Services and Partners in Care. Point-in-Time Count teams included workers from service agencies that regularly perform outreach to homeless people, as well as community volunteers.

"One thing to keep in mind is that there is a story for everyone that’s reflected in this report," Holthus said. "And it’s not necessarily the same people in this year’s report as in last year’s."