A full-court press lobbying effort by Mayor Kirk Caldwell and his top lieutenants failed to persuade the City Council Budget Committee to restore $616,000 that the administration insists is critical to providing housing for the homeless.
The committee Tuesday refused to put the money back into next year’s $2.3 billion operating budget for the seven contractual-hire positions that make up the fledgling Office of Strategic Development — but approved $130,000 from its own Council budget for two positions to hire homeless-housing experts for the Council staff.
A final vote on the 2016 budget takes place June 3, and it would take a floor amendment by Council members that day to restore the funds before the budget goes to the mayor for consideration.
The clash over funding for the office has been the biggest skirmish in what has been a relatively scuffle-free budget review the last two months.
"We have nothing against the office," Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said after the meeting. "We just don’t want to add more money and grow government. They can continue to fund it the way they’ve been funding it."
Kobayashi was referring to the fact that Caldwell used leftover funds in this year’s budget to start the office in December with three people.
The office’s main purpose, according to a release issued by the administration in December, is "to immediately address the lack of overall planning and management of the city’s real estate portfolio, which has existed since the Department of Housing was eliminated in 1996." Additionally, the office "will fast-track the asset develop- ment component of the city’s Housing First program and Affordable Housing Policy and Plan," the December release said.
Acting Community Services Director Gary Nakata urged the committee Tuesday to reconsider its position and put the money back for the seven positions.
"We do understand that this is an item that’s been hotly debated," Nakata said. "We’ve been tasked with taking care of the homelessness problem, to attempt to bring an end to it or to at least manage it and control it."
The key to easing the homelessness is to develop more units that people without homes can move into, he said. The Council appropriated $32 million for homeless housing in the current year’s budget to procure those units, he said. "All we’re asking for right now is for the people that can take that money and turn them into units. Without these individuals, I do not think that going forward for the next year, the next two years, we’d be able to spend that money and procure those units."
Nakata’s comments were preceded by a letter Caldwell sent to the Council on Tuesday voicing the same concerns. The mayor also pushed for the positions during his appearance on the "Hawaii News Now" program Tuesday morning. He suggested actions to remove the homeless population in Kakaako through the "stored property and sidewalk nuisance" laws might cease until more housing is made available. Managing Director Roy Amemiya has also pleaded with the Council to restore the funding.
Even after the committee’s decision, the administration issued a news release stating that Caldwell was disappointed with the decision. He also noted the Council is adding $130,000 to its budget for two new housing coordinators to help the Council develop solutions to homelessness.
Council Chairman Ernie Martin, in pushing for the two positions, said, "The time has come for us to be more proactive on this particular issue," noting that the recent point-in-time count of homeless people shows a significant increase from a year ago.
