In the quest for lowest-cost housing, innovation includes code compliance

There’s no shortage of ideas about housing the homeless. The challenge at this stage, say the advocates, will be pushing the best ones across the finish line, given the various governmental hurdles.

An omnibus bill passed in the last legislative session, Senate Bill 515, provided $100,000 for the development of prototype, low-cost housing options for the homeless.

Architect Jim Schmitt is among the leading participants in the prototype initiative. His concept, which groups three shipping containers and adds roofing and ventilation improvements to create a small residential complex, would cost about $30,000. It could be built quickly if not for state procurement laws, Schmitt said, which adds some hoops to the task of constructing the prototype.

Further, there could be regulatory hitches. State Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, who is heading the prototype initiative, said the plan is to get them built and inspected for compliance with county codes before deciding which designs could be mass produced.

Schmitt is also concerned that prototypes may bend the city’s rules about what qualifies as a residence, since kitchen and bathroom components may be occasionally provided in a more communal setting. It would be smart to craft exemptions or new categories for homeless housing options sooner rather than later, he said.

"Everything would speed up if there was an ordinance to accommodate them," he said.

The Homeless Assistance Working Group that Chun Oakland chairs is also looking at other prototype proposals, including one under development by doctoral students at the University of Hawaii School of Architecture.

Other housing concepts under discussion include a more communal arrangement based on the Hawaiian "kauhale" village, said Colin Kippen, state homelessness coordinator. This could especially work in areas of large Native Hawaiian populations where a culturally based approach fits well, he said.

Finally, Kippen agreed with Chun Oakland that the development of more affordable rental housing, such as dorm-like "single-room occupancy" complexes gaining popularity in other cities, will be a topic of discussion in the 2014 Legislature.