Anti-homelessness bills advance

With affordable-housing and homelessness problems persisting, measures aimed at promoting affordable-housing construction, assisting the Hawaii Public Housing Authority with repair and maintenance, encouraging Housing First programs and funding the up-and-coming concept of micro-apartments continue to move through the Legislature.

The state’s acute affordable-housing shortage shows no signs of letting up any time soon, and lawmakers and advocates agree the only way to make a dent in the deficit is to subsidize construction.

"Affordable rentals aren’t being created through the market," said Jenny Lee of the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, a nonprofit group that advocates for fair treatment of the state’s low-income residents. "They’re just not."

The Housing and Homeless Legislative Package priority bills have all been stripped of their respective appropriations until House and Senate members can hash out the final amounts in conference committees this month. But Senate Bill 2533 proposed setting aside $15.8 million for the construction of micro-apartment housing units when it was introduced this session.

Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, chairwoman of the Senate Human Services Committee, said micro-units, which are small but have a kitchen and bathroom, can go a long way to help Hawaii’s homeless and near-homeless as well as small families, students, single professionals and young adults venturing out on their own.

According to the Appleseed Center, which promotes new thinking on how housing can meet the needs of the most vulnerable, 81 percent of those experiencing homelessness are single individuals.

"The type of micro-units that this would support are more of a modern generation of small affordable units" designed for people who need a small amount of space, Lee said, adding that many people would rather live in a small individual space than have roommates.

More and more, lawmakers say innovation will be a key in addressing the state’s acute affordable-housing shortage and homelessness crisis.

"I think it’s exciting because they’re receptive to this approach," Lee said. "It’s really important that the state take a lead in innovating around affordable housing."

Rep. Mark Hashem, chairman of the House’s Housing Committee, said that’s why he amended a Senate bill regarding financing for the Rental Housing Trust Fund to allow for state funds to go toward mixed-use developments that include commercial opportunities and affordable rental projects on the same site.

"The only way we’re going to get low-income housing is we subsidize it, right?" Hashem (D, Hahaione Valley-Aina Haina-Kahala) said in an interview with the Star-Advertiser. "You’ve just got to find creative ways of reducing the cost of subsidizing housing, and that (amendment) was one of them."

While ideas such as homeless campsites or paying for the homeless to return to the mainland haven’t been popular at the Legislature over the years, the state’s Homeless Assistance Working Group continues to work on identifying unique housing options that can be implemented to address homelessness within individual communities, Chun Oakland said.

Part of House Bill 1934, the Homelessness Omnibus Bill, would appropriate unspecified funds to purchase and construct housing solutions related to the working group’s recommendations.

"The whole philosophy behind that (group) is you have people living in each community that really feel passionate to help people that are homeless," said Chun Oakland (D, Downtown-Nuu­anu-Li­liha).

"It’s really neat to see developers, architects, all these various nonprofits, churches, homeless and formerly homeless individuals, social services providers … all working together more on a grass-roots level."

HB 1934, if passed, could also include funding for substance abuse treatment and mental health support services for homeless residents, clean-and-sober housing support, homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing, and the state’s Housing First efforts.

The original draft of the bill included $750,000 for the Housing First Special Fund and $750,000 for the Department of Human Services to continue to administer Housing First programs, which are part of a growing national trend.

"You want to house people that are chronically homeless first and then get the wraparound services to support them," Chun Oakland said. "Because when you have homelessness and you don’t have them stabilized in a home, then it’s very hard to do all the other services, and so the cost per person … is so much higher to service people on the streets."

Chun Oakland said she also hopes the Legislature can funnel additional funds to the Hawaii Public Housing Authority to help decrease its nearly $500 million repair and maintenance backlog.

Under Director Hakim Ouan­safi, occupancy is at 97 percent, and the turnover time for a unit has decreased to nine days from 300 days in 2011. But the current waiting list still has 13,013 families, with an average of three people per family, according to the HPHA.

In the current draft of the state budget, HPHA is set to receive $35 million in the upcoming fiscal year for capital improvements. That funding, however, like any of the housing and homeless measures, could change when the House and Senate meet in conference committee.

"Everything’s moving, so it’s actually pretty good," Hashem said. "Most of the housing issues are funding-related — it’s all about money — so it’s just, at the end of the day, How much money do we have to put into it?"

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CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated $500,000 in repairs and maintenance backlog for the Hawaii Public Housing Authority.