‘Village’ offers hope to homeless

If it really does take a village to tackle the knottiest problems facing society, then Duane Kurisu’s approach to homelessness could be a model worth replicating.

Local business executive Kurisu last week unveiled his vision for a community providing housing for the homeless, a complex he hopes will be reminiscent of the plantation-style village in which his family first set down roots in Hawaii.

If this project succeeds, it should help to guide government on how partnerships with private compa- nies and organizations can provide solutions for Oahu’s persistent homelessness crisis more effectively than the public sector alone.

Kurisu, who owns a number of publications, also is a member of the board of directors of Oahu Publications Inc., the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s parent company.

His nonprofit aio Foundation aims to reduce Oahu’s homeless population by establishing a neighborhood of affordable units on 13.1 acres of state-owned land near Keehi Lagoon.

To do so, the organization will provide up to 200 modular homes that had been purchased through the “Aloha for Japan” relief effort following that nation’s 2011 catastrophic earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor meltdown.

The units will be modified to resemble plantation-era homes and assembled as a community dubbed Kahauiki Village.

The land will be leased for a nominal fee from the state, and the city will provide about $4 million to cover the water and sewer hookup, although Kurisu has said the first 22 units may open by year’s end with temporary water and sanitation facilities.

What could make this project more of a community than a shelter are the plans for permanence.

The project will serve families who have fallen into homelessness; tenants, who will pay $400-$500 in monthly rent, will be able to stay as long as they like as they work their way back to a more solid financial footing.

And here’s one promising route for them to follow: Vicky Cayetano, the state’s former first lady and the longtime owner of United Laundry Services nearby in Kalihi, stands ready to offer work to at least some of the new residents. She deserves a share of applause for Kurisu’s project.

Honolulu should take a great deal of encouragement from these developments, and take hope that more businesses will find a role in addressing the needs of the city’s working poor.

It is a role that many church groups and other organizations in the nonprofit sector already have adopted. A few recent examples:

>> The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated $3,000 to purchase new and desperately needed air mattresses for the Next Step shelter in Kakaako.

>> First Assembly of God Church in Red Hill has explored the creation of a shelter using igloo-style domes.

>> Family Promise of Hawai‘i, a program that rotates six or seven homeless families through Oahu churches, demonstrates that multiple religious communities can coordinate their outreach.

The public needs to see that such efforts are multiplying. According to the most recent Hawaii Poll, conducted by the Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now, there has been a modest boost in optimism that improvements are being made.

Of the sample group surveyed June 30-July 9, 47 percent said the homelessness problem is growing worse. That sounds dismal enough, but the previous year the proportion of those who felt the crisis was worsening stood at 74 percent.

But as the latest Point in Time homelessness census shows, the number of those living on the streets is continuing to rise, so more work needs to be done.

Projects such as Kahauiki Village cannot solve the whole problem, of course.

The homeless population comprises several subgroups hobbled by various social problems.

There is drug addiction, mental illness and other factors.

For example, this village is unlikely to be the solution to the hardened encampment of many homeless who have settled in and live off the grid, some engaging in drug sales and other illegal activity, according to the Institute for Human Services.

The city is taking the right approach, however, by tapping its network of social service agencies to find the right tenants for this project — families who want the stability of permanent homes.

The private sector and the public certainly can support the effort to help them.