Editorial: ‘Ohana zones’ need creativity

In recent years, in response to an increasingly visible presence of people living on the streets, the state has combatted homelessness with a sense of urgency. While various efforts are putting dents in the problem, Hawaii’s ranking as the state with the highest homeless rate per capita serves as an unmistakable cue that much more assistance is needed.

Earlier this year the state Legislature allotted $30 million to open up to six “ohana zones” on public lands, with three sites on Oahu, one site each on Hawaii, Kauai and Maui. Each must provide temporary housing along with social and health services that aim to transition homeless people to affordable housing.

Legislators tasked Gov. David Ige with filling in their bare-bones framework. In the legislation, they expressed frustration with mixed results from shelter operations and other efforts underway, and asserted that effectively tackling homelessness requires the courage to try something new.

Ige’s response, so far, is underwhelming. His $17.3 million rollout doesn’t try much that qualifies as something new. Instead, it expands emergency shelter space, renovates existing shelters and supports an ongoing push for permanent housing for the homeless.

Reacting to Ige’s details on how he intends to use slightly more than half of the funding, House Majority Leader Della Au Belatti, said: “I think that we would have liked to see a little bit more innovation.” Agreed. The legislation serves up an opportunity to draw from the most promising elements of tested initiatives and programs to create something that’s potentially more effective.

Still, Ige’s sidestepping of the legislation’s intent should not be surprising. Back in July, the governor said his administration would not build ohana zones, which are envisioned by supporters as a well-organized and hospitable Hawaii version of “safe zones” or “tent cities.”

And last year, after the Legislature created a working group to examine the safe zones concept as one possible short-term fix for homeless individuals and families, Ige’s administration dragged its feet on a call to identify state land on which such a zone could take shape.

Ige has maintained that instead, the focus should be on finding permanent housing through programs and subsidies such as “Housing First,” paired with wrap-around social and health care services. That, officials have said, is what works, long-term. And that is a promising national best practices strategy, no doubt.

But due to Hawaii’s long-bemoaned short supply of inventory tagged for any sort of affordable housing, the state needs to also focus intently on short-term housing stopgaps.

WHY NOT tap the ohana zones funding as a chance to further test positive pilot ventures? Multiply the count of tiny houses, for example. Or rehab more shipping containers such as those at the Hale Mauliola project at Sand Island — a small-scale, short-term “housing navigation service center” the city developed on a state-owned parcel.

Or try something untested in the islands. For example, in San Diego, where, similarly, the homeless population is growing as home prices and rents soar, local government operates “safe lots,” overnight parking for people living in their vehicles. That might work well here.

It’s true that some campground-type settings have failed — here and on the mainland. Of course, lawmakers don’t want a repeat of Camp Kikaha, the now-closed safe zone that operated for seven months in Kailua-Kona. But that was a largely makeshift site that took shape without extensive advance planning.

So far, ohana zones funding is slated for pursuits ranging from expansion of a youth homeless shelter to renovation of two state-owned shelters. As Ige and his administration chiefs weigh how to spend the balance, they should summon the courage to try more that’s new.