Efforts take aim at homelessness

Among the expected advances in help for Hawaii’s homeless is expected to be the city’s "Pathways Project" aimed at providing housing and health and social services for the chronically homeless. Mayor Peter Carlisle said in his Feb. 23 State of the City address that requests for proposals from nonprofits to run the program, as well as further details of the plans, will be released within a few weeks.

The release of a new policy brief on homelessness has drawn a spotlight, but other ideas are being floated. A roundup of a few new initiatives and proposals follows.

"Addressing Homelessness," Hawai‘i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice:

» Relatively low-cost designs for dwelling structures include buildings made of "rammed earth" subsoil blocks that can be covered with stucco; prefabricated bamboo housing; converted shipping containers; and yurts, a semi-permanent structure that can be built of plywood or chip board.

» Temporary encampments, sometimes called "safe zones," can enable residents to secure belongings and provide stability to those unsuited to conventional shelters.

» Volunteer programs can speed the return of empty public housing units to use.

Legislation under consideration:

» SB 2568, to give counties responsibility to provide information on temporary shelters to people cleared from unauthorized encampments.

» SB 2594, to appropriate $100,000 and require that the state Department of Human Service Homeless Programs Office establish "safe areas" statewide that provide clean eating areas, showers, toilets and laundry facilities.

» SB 901, to set aside an undetermined amount of funding for a landlord liaison project to give landlords incentives to relax screening criteria and enabling the placement of more homeless people in private rentals.

Institute for Human Services, using federal and city grant money:

» Partnering with the psychiatry department at the John A. Burns School of Medicine to have psychiatrists accompany outreach teams to provide on-site help.

» Setting up teleconferencing capacity to provide psychiatric help to remote populations.

» Working with the state public safety and health departments to provide social services upon release of offenders with mental health problems to prevent homelessness and recidivism.