Plan to make better use of public housing is a good start

Hawaii’s homeless people, and those on the very brink, are burdened on multiple fronts.

Poverty is foremost, with all the associated socioeconomic problems. Poor education can yield jobs that barely pay the rent. Stretching thin household budgets is a challenge. Substance abuse, domestic violence and other strains can leave individuals or entire families on the streets. And on top of everything, rents that are affordable to those on the lowest financial rung are in extremely short supply.

Making headway in the fight against homelessness will require a strategy that takes all these elements into account, one that strives to move people toward greater independence.

That’s why House Bill 2638, sponsored by state Rep. Sylvia Luke, has the right ideas at its core.

The measure would compel public housing residents to accept 7-year limits on their tenancy. At the same time, it would establish a program with supports designed to help them prepare for self-sufficiency, for renting on the regular market.

The bill will be heard before the Housing Committee at 8:30 a.m. Monday in conference room 329. It demands a full and receptive review.

What stands in the way of success is not one thing, but 65,000 of them.

That’s roughly the number of additional units Hawaii is projected to need between now and a decade out, according to “Measuring Housing Demand in Hawaii, 2015-2025,” a study by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

And with a deficit of housing in general, rents are driven up, leaving those at the low end of the pay scale with few options other than a deeply subsidized dwelling.

Public housing is meant to be the safety net in a community’s housing inventory, a way station. If it’s allowed to become a perma- nent, even multigenerational haven, many people in a housing crisis are left to languish on the waiting list — and in homelessness.

The fact that here and in many other places public housing is treated as a long-term option signals a crisis for a state that must overcome its enormous affordable-housing need.

Luke, who chairs the House Finance Committee, is part of a legislative leadership that must redouble efforts to spur development of affordable rentals.

The state should support all viable approaches: using the state’s affordable-rental funds to help finance private projects; supporting the city in building affordable rentals at rail-transit stations; and speeding the rehabilitation of existing public housing units.

Then the incentives of the bill seeking to change the dynamic of public-housing life have some hope of succeeding, because there would be alternative places for the tenants to rent.

For example: Tenants agreeing to the 7-year term will have their rent frozen at the minimum level for the duration. Currently, they have no drive to work for higher pay because rules now state they must pay a rent increase, too.

In addition, residents must be helped in developing better budgeting and financial skills. One avenue HB 2638 would open is the creation of a savings account for tenants who would be encouraged to set aside any extra money they begin to earn. Under the bill, the state would match the money they are able to save as a nest egg for their departure.

In a separate development, Gov. David Ige is proposing $5 million in state money to be granted to Aloha United Way, to enable programs addressing homelessness.

While that amount certainly matches the scale of the homelessness crisis, lawmakers should insist on a fairly detailed spending plan from AUW before allotting that much cash.

There were 13,645 people on the statewide public housing waitlist at last count on Wednesday, according to the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, and it can take up to five years to reach the top of that list. There’s only a 4 percent turnover rate annually.

This means public housing is not available to fulfill its proper role as the safety net. In places as high-cost as Hawaii, that can’t be allowed to continue.

HB 2638 deserves serious consideration, but only if it’s paired with an intensely focused and adequately funded campaign to develop affordable rentals. Otherwise, those people who wish to move on from public housing will have no options.

And without alternatives, families lacking the means to secure a new home could simply backslide to the streets — exacerbating the very problem public housing is meant to solve.