Center to shift users to stable housing

The state has agreed to provide the city with a vacant, 5-acre parcel at Sand Island for what Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration is describing as a "transition center" to its longer-term Housing First initiative.

The so-called Temporary Mobile Access to Services and Housing site needs the approval of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, which will take up the matter at its meeting Friday. The site is near the Sand Island Access Road bridge, close to the University of Hawaii marine center and a privately run BMX racetrack.

A public information meeting on the proposal is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Puuhale Elementary School cafeteria.

The Caldwell administration announced at a City Council Zoning and Planning Committee meeting on Aug. 27 that it was negotiating for the use of a site at Sand Island, but specifics of the plan, including the exact location, were not released until Friday.

City Managing Director Ember Shinn told the Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser on Friday that she expects the city to select a vendor and have the site up and running in two to three months. Shinn said she expects the city to spend no more than about $500,000 for the contract.

Shinn reiterated that the Sand Island site is not a traditional "safe zone" or homeless encampment, but rather a temporary "transitional center" for about 100 people who meet the definition of "chronically homeless" and agree to work toward eventually moving into permanent housing under Housing First. The city is aiming to have those using the site to move into more permanent shelter within a year to 18 months, although the no-cost lease agreed to by the Abercrombie administration allows for the city to use the site for up to three years.

"We’re hoping that we can bring people in off the streets, assess them if they haven’t been assessed, score and rank them in terms of their priorities for services, and then move them into permanent shelters as they become available," she said.

Those who stay at the T-MASH site will need to bring their own tents. "We are not providing any walls or permanent shelters whatsoever; it’s totally transitional," she said.

But there will be 24-hour property management and security, portable restrooms and showers, storage units, benches, park tables and on-site services from various human services providers available, Shinn said. Additionally, the city will provide shuttle service to a major city bus line, either along Nimitz Highway or the nearby Middle Street transit hub.

Pets will be allowed and there will be no curfews, but residents will need to abide by some rules. Security, however, will be focused on making sure the site is safe for those staying there, not on cracking down on illegal activities, Shinn said.

Peter Hirai, city deputy director for emergency management, is assisting Shinn and city housing officials in setting up the Sand Island transition center because of his experience in setting up post-disaster shelters. Hirai said he spoke with Honolulu police officers who provided security at former Mayor Frank Fasi’s tent city at Aala Park in the early 1990s, which became a haven for drugs and crime before being shut down. "We definitely don’t want a repeat of that," he said, noting that 24-hour property management and security would be key difference.

"They said, ‘Here’s a big tent, go at it,’ and that was probably the biggest problem that they had back then," Hirai said.

It’s possible that the city at some point will bring some temporary shelters in the form of buses or individual tents, Shinn said.

The city separately is seeking a vendor to oversee and manage the Housing First voucher program that will provide permanent housing units at scattered sites around Oahu. Up to $3 million is set aside for that part of Housing First.

The third leg of Housing First involves the city using roughly $44 million in capital improvement dollars for either acquiring or developing housing for up to 400 chronically homeless individuals or families over the next two years.

Housing First is considered the "compassionate" part of Caldwell’s "compassionate disruption" approach to dealing with homelessness. The "disruption" part involves removing the homeless from city sidewalks via existing city ordinances and proposed "sit-lie" and urination-defecation bans that are up for final votes before the Council on Wednesday.

The administration has backed Bill 42, which bars sitting and lying along sidewalks in Waikiki, and Bill 43, which prohibits urinating and defecating in Waikiki. Separate bills proposed by Council members would expand the sit-lie and urination-defecation prohibitions Oahu-wide.

The Sand Island plan drew mixed reviews from key stakeholders Friday.

Rodney Kim, executive director of the Sand Island Community Association, said his group wants to get all the specifics of the city plan before commenting. The group oversees about 100 tenants in an industrial park setting. Its entrance is about a quarter-mile from its site.

"We certainly feel empathy with the people who are homeless," Kim said. "And I know it’s a problem for all of us to address."

Kathryn Xian, executive director of the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, said the Sand Island site is too remote and that none of the individuals and families living along Kakaako sidewalks that her group is assisting want to move there.

Xian said the isolation of Sand Island makes it unsafe, especially for those who work late into the evening.

The Sand Island initiative also has a close relationship with the sit-lie and urination-defecation bills that she and others believe are unconstitutional and seek to criminalize the most vulnerable for not having shelter. The homeless, in essence, must either move into shelter or become criminals if the bills become law, she said.

Further, Xian said she sees no effort by the city to allow those living at the encampment to help decide how it will be run.

Shinn said she has consulted one or two homeless individuals who expressed interest in the plan.

Both Councilman Joey Manahan and state Rep. Romy Cachola, who represent the Kalihi-Sand Island region, said they are wary of the plan and hope area stakeholders like the Sand Island Community Association, harbor users including shipping companies like Matson and Young Bros., canoe paddlers and other parkgoers have their say.

Cachola said he also wants to know how the city project will affect state plans for a marina there. "We should not fast-track this," he said.

ENLARGE CHART