Churches host summit on homelessness

The second annual Faith Summit on Homelessness opened with a mix of prayers for the homeless — and those working to help them — and big and small ideas for how individuals can get involved.

Senior pastor Klayton Ko of First Assembly of God in Moanalua, which is hosting the two-day summit, began with a prayer to God “to give us your courage to do things we’ve never done before to get the results we’ve never had in ending homelessness in Hawaii.”

Last year, First Assembly of God shipped in a $9,500, 12-foot-tall, 314-square-foot “spherical dome” from Juneau, Alaska, that still sits in the church courtyard.

Twelve more of the igloo-shaped domes have been ordered, which will be used to house 40 to 50 homeless people on the church’s 1.25-acre Kahaluu property once city permitting issues are cleared, Ko said.

He hopes to move in the first residents in June or July and said other churches are inquiring about participating.

“I believe the faith community has a lot to offer,” Ko said.

The original dome will remain at First Assembly of God, said pastor Daniel Kaneshiro.

“Nobody wants it (homelessness) on their back door,” Ko told those gathered at his church. “But if we don’t deal with it, it’s going to end up on our front door and it’s already happening for many of our businesses. … It’s time for the faith community to get involved.”

State, city and social service agencies provided a long list of recent efforts to get more homeless people — especially families with children — into permanent housing.

But discussions never veered far from practical ideas for how people of faith can help — either individually or throughout their entire congregations.

Scott Morishige, the state’s homeless coordinator, said church members with ties to the Micronesian community played a critical role in helping to clear out the Kakaako homeless encampment around the University of Hawaii medical school that at one point in 2015 swelled to more than 300 occupants.

Church members had better relationships with some of the Micronesian occupants than social service outreach workers who were trying to help them, Morishige said.

“They were able to explain the services and get people better linked and better connected,” he said. “There’s not one way (churches can help). There’s many opportunities.”

Gary Nakata, director of the city’s Department of Community Services, told of how Central Union Church approached city officials and offered to provide furniture and household goods to their new, formerly homeless neighbors who moved into a city-owned, three-story, 24-unit apartment building across Beretania Street two months ago.

“They were part of the solution,” Nakata said. “They came to us and said, ‘This is what we can do. Because this is what a fella 2,000 years ago walking around Jerusalem would want us to do.’”

He encouraged other religious groups to follow Central Union’s example for future projects to house the homeless.

Connie Mitchell, executive director for the Institute for Human Services, said each community’s homeless issues are different from the next. But places of worship can help connect the needs of the homeless around them with local resources to get them help, she said.

“What if in every community there was a very established hub for where people could get services?” Mitchell asked. “We could put IHS out of business and that would be OK with me because people in the community are taking care of the people in that community. We’ve lost that.”

Places of worship are full of talented people with great ideas to help the homeless, Mitchell said.

“The kind of homelessness that we are seeing today is really the result of much, much deeper rooted problems in our society,” she said. “As people of faith we want to change those things as well, with values and hope, with love and compassion.”

The summit continues today with more detailed breakout sessions, including ones that explore specific issues associated with certain homeless populations such as veterans, the chronically homeless and immigrants.