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Questions: What are the requirements to be considered as a tenant in a unit at the new complex at 1506 Piikoi St.? I read about it (808ne.ws/425sty) and wonder whether I qualify.
Answer: Besides being verified as homeless (sheltered or unsheltered), potential tenants must be able to pay rent, but not have income that exceeds 50 percent of Oahu’s area median income, according to the application packet we received from Housing Solutions Inc., which manages the 42-unit complex for the city.
Priority will be given to families with children under 18 and a household member who is working.
Applicants must provide a letter from a service provider verifying their homeless status. They must also fill out forms listing income, including Social Security, retirement, disability or veterans’ benefits, and other information.
Prospective tenants are screened for criminal history and other factors. Reasons applicants can be denied include not being a legal U.S. resident; being a fugitive from the legal system or immigration authorities; being a registered sex offender; having a violent crime conviction within two years; and providing incomplete or inaccurate information on the forms. All adults who want to live in a unit must submit criminal abstracts.
Potential tenants may get an application from any homeless service provider on Oahu, according to the city, or by emailing HSI General Manager Shanelle Lum at shanelle@hsiservices.net.
The complex at Piikoi and Hassinger streets in Makiki might see its first tenants move in this week.
Q: What type of project is going on at the top of the Makapuu Lighthouse trail? They have built three temporary structures, and there looks to be some type of radar measuring equipment pointed out toward the ocean. All I could find out is that there is some kind of wave measurements going on. Can you find out more details, especially who is paying for this work and what is its purpose? Are these structures permanent?
A: No, the structures are not permanent. They were erected in March as part of a research project conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory and should be gone by the end of the week.
The researchers “were wrapping up last week and will be moving out this week. They will remove all materials that were brought in for this project,” which was funded through the lab, said Deborah Ward, a spokeswoman for the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
DLNR granted a permit allowing the lab to set up an ocean-research site near the summit of Makapuu within the Kaiwi State Scenic Shoreline. The research did not affect hiking on the Makapuu Trail, including to the upper lookouts, but a small portion of the shoreline was off-limits during the two-month project, it said.
The Lincoln Laboratory (www.ll.mit.edu) is described as developing and applying “technology in support of national security.”
Its research at Makapuu involved using “a lightweight, portable radar system to collect measurements of the naturally occurring, random reflections from the ocean surface in multiple frequency bands. These natural, random ocean reflections (called clutter) can obscure the radar reflections from ships or boats and make them more difficult to detect. MIT LL’s research will help radar designers separate real objects from ocean reflections and improve radar performance,” according to a DLNR news release issued before the project began.
The structures you saw included a radar system mounted on a platform overlooking the ocean, and support structures for equipment and researchers.
DLNR said the research posed no hazard to boaters or marine life, and could lead to improvements in ship-mounted radar systems.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
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