Plans by Mayor Kirk Caldwell to create a housing development division appear doomed, and the future of the Hale Mauliola homeless center at Sand Island and related programs could be as well, under the latest draft of the $2.3 billion operating budget that moved out of the City Council Budget Committee on Wednesday.

Council members sitting in on the hearing said the administration has done little to tackle the island’s homeless situation and not worked cooperatively with them on possible solutions.

Councilman Joey Manahan said the administration has done a poor job responding to members’ suggestions. He distributed a list with 13 resolutions and bills offering direction for various housing and homeless initiatives, including his resolution asking the administration to look into developing hygiene centers within his Kalihi district.

The administration has done nothing with the ideas, he said.

“There’s no sense in me supporting this new division if it’s actually not going to do anything for me,” Manahan said.

But Community Services Director Gary Nakata said, “I think it makes the point that we do need the additional bodies to put some of these (Council initiatives) into place.”

He applauded Council members for traveling to the mainland to explore different housing alternatives. Those ideas are being considered seriously, but the lack of money and personnel is a hindrance when there are competing interests, he said.

The latest version of the operating budget deletes $477,690 to fund eight positions in the planned Asset Management and Development Division, which the administration argued is crucial if the city wants to significantly reduce Oahu’s homeless population. The draft also eliminates the $1.89 million the administration had earmarked for the new division’s property management and relocation costs.

The committee went further, however, slashing funding from other affordable and homeless programs including $1.79 million that the city had earmarked for the upcoming year’s operations at Hale Mauliola, the modular housing “navigation facility” Caldwell opened in December.

After Wednesday’s meeting, Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that at least four Council members called for chopping the funding for the new division, indicating it likely won’t get enough support to be resurrected before the final vote on the budget in June.

Council members may reconsider the decision to reject funding for Hale Mauliola beyond June 30, Kobayashi said. But they will need to be convinced by the administration that it’s worth keeping.

The pushback against the new division began almost immediately after Caldwell rolled it out in March, and it was more of the same Wednesday.

Councilman Trevor Ozawa said housing officials only recently began approaching Council members about the administration’s housing and homeless initiatives.

“It seems like right before the budget, you guys come full-court press,” he said.

Nakata acknowledged that “the committee has made clear its position on this division.” However, he said, “we wanted to stress the fact that we are starting to undergo construction for several projects this year already that will soon be ready for occupancy.”

As for Hale Mauliola, Manahan said he views it as a failure because there continues to be a large homeless presence in his community, even encampments near Hale Mauliola. Noting that the city’s lease with the state is for three years, he demanded to see a transition plan out of the site.

When Nakata suggested the city might seek a lease beyond three years, Manahan snapped back that Hale Mauliola is “not the answer and I don’t want it there.”

Nakata and city Managing Director Roy Amemiya objected vehemently to Manahan’s conclusion.

Expected to house 80 to 90 people at a time, it is about 70 percent full and about 25 people have been put into permanent housing, Amemiya said.

“We are changing lives,” Nakata said. “We believe this program is working.”

Other Council members also voiced displeasure.

Councilwoman Kymberly Pine said the administration would be more likely to get funding for the new division if it spoke with Council members before going public on projects in their district.

“I think you folks need to go back and regroup, I think you need to sit down and talk to each Council member and hear their frustrations,” she said.

“It is just often so frustrating that the city’s actions in this arena seem to either be late or otherwise not allowing us to really fulfill what we originally promised,” Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga said.