Housing First plan envisions 180-200 permanent residences

Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s revamped Housing First plan will provide 180 to 200 permanent residences for homeless individuals and families, 110 of them by June 2016, city housing officials told the City Council Budget Committee on Monday.

That could rise to as many as 350 units if the city is able to leverage its money and integrate it with other programs, city Community Services Director Pam Witty-Oakland said.

Caldwell’s plan calls for $18.9 million in capital improvement dollars to purchase units that would be leased and managed by nonprofits or other third-party interests that would rent them out to those identified as chronically homeless, Witty-Oakland said. The money would come from the city’s accumulating Affordable Housing Fund, which requires that money be used only for acquisition or rehabilitation of housing units or projects aimed at those making 50 percent or less of an area’s median income.

"The intent is to provide loans or grants to qualified nonprofits or owners for the rehabilitation and management of affordable housing units that would meet that income criteria and serve that population in perpetuity," she said.

An additional $3 million from the city’s $2 billion operating budget would go toward jump-starting the program by providing vouchers to those most in need as well as provide related services, Witty-Oakland said.

The city has targeted the downtown Hono­lulu, Wai­kiki and Leeward Oahu regions, considered the areas with the greatest concentration of homeless people, she said.

Exactly where the Housing First units would be located has not yet been determined, Witty-Oakland said, noting that some may be entire buildings or units in existing buildings. Outreach needs to be done to persuade Realtors, landowners and landlords to participate, she said.

Witty-Oakland said it is possible that some units may be located among some of the 12 rental complexes that the city tried to sell as part of the failed Hono­lulu Affordable Housing Preservation Initiative, although she noted that many have strict income-level requirements, and confirmed that "the state has expressed an interest."

Some Council members, chiefly Chairman Ernie Martin and Budget Chairwoman Ann Koba­ya­shi, have raised concerns that Housing First has been used primarily to help individuals with substance abuse or mental illness issues, and would not be able to help to homeless families.

But Witty-Oakland stated emphatically that "chronically homeless includes families by definition." They simply need to have been homeless continuously for at least a year or four times in three years, she said.