Duane Kurisu’s vision to reduce Oahu’s homeless population by creating a plantation-era-style community has brought together the state and city to help turn the idea into reality.
“Instead of complaining, we’ve got to find solutions,” Kurisu told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Thursday before a news conference on Sand Island announcing his project. “We want to be part of the solution. But we could never do this without the city and the state. Government by itself cannot lick the problem of homelessness.”
Kurisu sits on the board of directors of Oahu Publications Inc., parent company of the Star-Advertiser.
Representatives from the city, state and Kurisu’s nonprofit aio Foundation teamed up Thursday to announce their joint effort to create a permanent, affordable community near Keehi Lagoon for 200 homeless families in the epicenter of one of the island’s most notorious encampments.
Mayor Kirk Caldwell called Thursday “one of the most exciting days I’ve had as mayor in terms of dealing with the homeless. … Duane stepped up.”
Kurisu wants his aio Foundation to provide as many as 200 modular homes from Japan that were used to house 5,000 displaced Japanese victims from the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Caldwell said the modular homes were purchased through the “Aloha for Japan” fundraising relief effort in Hawaii, which Kurisu helped organize to raise more than $1 million.
The modular homes “helped the Japanese people get back on their feet,” Caldwell said. “From Aloha for Japan to aloha for the homeless.”
The plan is to retrofit the homes to resemble the style of plantation houses that Kurisu’s family lived in along Hawaii island’s Hamakua Coast.
Kurisu then hopes to break ground for the first 22 homes by the end of the year or early next year on 13.1 acres of state Department of Land and Natural Resources land used for paintball and airsoft games makai of the H-1 viaduct.
The paintball field is currently surrounded by more than 250 homeless people and their animals who are living off the grid in houseboats and other well-built structures.
They use a series of nets to catch seafood from the adjacent canal and have erected a pulley system using boats to tap into waterlines, then pull themselves back to their illegal homes with fresh water, said Kimo Carvalho of the Institute for Human Services.
Underneath the incessant sound of H-1 traffic, another group of homeless regularly exchanges drugs and money in a “gambling room” under the viaduct, Carvalho said
But the Japanese modular homes that Kurisu is buying for an undisclosed price are not aimed at the current homeless in the area, who are mostly single adults.
Instead, Kurisu wants to house homeless families from across the island in the units, which will be converted into two-bedroom, one-bedroom and studio apartments.
The tenants will pay about $400 to $500 per month, said Kurisu, whose foundation is providing the homes. He declined to say how much money the foundation is spending.
Unlike other projects to help homeless people transition off of the street, Kurisu’s Kahauiki Village — the name comes from the ahu-puaa (ancient land division) that encompasses the paintball field and surrounding areas — would be used for permanent housing aimed at families currently living on the street.
“To reduce homelessness we need long-term, affordable housing,” Kurisu said. “These families can stay as long as they want to.”
Social service agencies will recommend suitable homeless families to occupy the modular homes, Kurisu said.
Unlike the city’s nascent Hale Mauliola community on Sand Island, next to which the modular homes are being retrofitted, Kahauiki Village will not have on-site social service assistance to help the homeless find jobs or get help with various problems.
But they’ve already been promised employment at former Hawaii first lady Vicky Cayetano’s United Laundry Services business just a few minutes away in Kalihi.
Cayetano’s late stepson, Brandon, used to run Hawaii All-Star Paintball &Airsoft.
Brandon, Vicky Cayetano said, “would be very, very happy. He was always interested to give not a handout, but a hand up.”
The state will provide the land to the city, which will serve as master lessor and will then lease the land to the aio Foundation at a rate of $1 per year for 10 years, with an option to renew the lease for another 10 years, said Sandy Pfund, director of the city’s Office of Strategic Development.
The city also will provide an estimated $4 million in water and sewer hookups for the 200 modular homes.
Even without fresh water and sewer connections, Kurisu hopes to get the first 22 units up and occupied by possibly importing fresh water and providing portable toilets.
He expects to provide power through solar energy.
Caldwell said the project represents another example of how the state and city are working together to reduce the nation’s highest per capita rate of homelessness.
“We were in silos two years ago,” Caldwell said. “We’re coming out of our silos and sharing help.”
But the credit really belongs to Kurisu, Caldwell said.
He called the businessman with plantation beginnings “a visionary man with the most local, humble roots you’ll ever find. Government cannot reduce the homeless situation by themselves. There needs to be public-private partnership.”
Plenty of details will need to be worked out, including figuring out how the current homeless population will greet the new community of modular units containing homeless families from someplace else.
The current homeless adults in the area “need to know that they cannot be hiding forever,” said IHS’ Carvalho. “This is not free property to live on for the rest of their lives. If they’re not going to seek solutions, then we need to look at enforcement as a tool. But before any of that happens, we need to do more aggressive outreach and develop plans to navigate them into housing. It’s going to take resources, that is the reality, because you want to make it a smooth transition.”
Overall, IHS supports the joint effort by Kurisu, his foundation, the city and the state, Carvalho said.
“We need to showcase more private-sector businessmen that are really able to develop solutions and come to the table,” Carvalho said. “I’m so happy about that.”
