Homelessness: Mainland fixes may fail in isles

A new best practices system that stresses moving homeless people through shelters and into permanent housing at a brisk pace is seeing some success in mainland communities, but may well be too hurried for our islands.

Cities such as Houston are now making shelter stays more appealing to would-be homeless clients by remaining open around the clock, staffing social service workers who can help clients with problems, and often allowing pets.

Following suit are Hawaii Department of Human Services proposals that range from establishing a minimum-sized sleeping area to limiting contact between adults and children in dining areas, common areas, bathrooms and sleeping areas. Plus, a proposed rule would require 50 percent of each shelter’s clients to leave within 30 days, with half of them moving into permanent housing.

Aspirational goals? Yes. Realistic? No.

Best practices for addressing homelessness on the mainland cannot be applied cookie-cutter-style to Hawaii. No matter how appealing a shelter may be, our year-round T-shirt weather makes it fairly easy to live outdoors. And our shortage of affordable rental spaces makes it especially difficult to place clients in permanent housing at a speedy pace.

In support of practices echoing the overhaul underway in Houston and elsewhere, Katy Miller, the Seattle-based regional coordinator for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, said: “All shelters need to meet a certain standard … that is dignified and safe and a healthy space.” Agreed. But as proposed, Hawaii’s DHS standard threatens to reverse progress by forcing shelter operators to remove hundreds of beds and shoulder construction projects tailored to effectively separate children from adults.

A bill passed by state lawmakers earlier this year (Act 234) establishes minimum standards for shelter operations. In written testimony on the measure, Gov. David Ige warned: “Though the bill seeks to make shelters more appealing and responsive to the needs of homeless families and individuals, it may prove difficult to implement” as yet-to-be-determined costs “put stress and uncertainty on the providers.”

Indeed. Operators representing eight of state’s largest homeless shelters complained to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser last week that the proposals, which would apply to new shelter contracts in place Feb. 1, set the stage for the state to micromanage unfunded mandates.

Among the proposals is a requirement that each sleeping area must be at least 10 square feet. For Waikiki Health’s Next Step Shelter in Kakaako where the space is set at 6 square feet, the increase would mean losing 100 of its 230 beds.

While the larger sleep area could make the shelter more inviting, it could thwart homeless sweeps. The availability of beds is a key part of ongoing clearings conducted by county and state officials, who check with shelters to make sure there are enough beds to comply with court rulings that people caught up in them have a safe place to go.

Hawaii, which already has the highest per capita rate of homelessness nationwide, saw its homeless population bump up 4 percent between January 2015 and January 2016. The numbers went from 7,620 homeless people to 7,921, representing the fifth consecutive annual increase, according to federal data.

However, the increase marked progress compared with the year before, when the numbers increased by 10 percent; and between 2013 and 2014, when they jumped by 9 percent. Even so, federal officials such as Miller contend that a rise in homeless population means “something is broken” and changes need to be made.

Since last year, when Ige issued the first in a series of emergency homeless proclamations, changes have been in the works as various programs launched trial runs aimed at putting a dent in the crisis. The city, too, has taken visible steps, such as the Hale Mauliola shelter and navigation hub on Sand Island.

Flexibility is needed now as Hawaii pinpoints which are most successful in balancing safety and dignity concerns with the push for permanent housing.