Editorial: Options must help range of homeless

The long-term solution for homelessness, according to every expert, is stable, permanent housing. The administration of Gov. David Ige has put its emphasis there as the most cost-effective, lasting means of dealing with Hawaii’s persistent crisis.

However, the ideal solution can’t be the only solution. At least, the most recent census of those classed as homeless seems to indicate that one key goal of keeping people off the streets remains as elusive as ever.

Temporary shelters, while only a stopgap measure, must remain a key element in how state and county governments deal with the problem.

Last week, preliminary Oahu data from January’s annual Point in Time Count was released. Although a somewhat fluid measure of the status of the houseless population, it is the basis of determining grants from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The overall count of Oahu homeless, including those living in shelters, dropped by 4 percent. But the more distressing number was that the number of those on the streets rose by 12 percent.

That percentage translates into 440 more people who confront the unhealthy and unsafe conditions of living in tents wherever they can find a few square feet — until they are rousted by the itinerant homelessness “sweeps” conducted around the island.

It’s unclear how many of the additional unsheltered population are individuals as opposed to family members, but the closure in October of Waianae’s Ulu Ke Kukui transitional shelter, with more than 300 family shelter beds, surely had some impact.

The shelter, which had occupied a Department of Hawaiian Home Lands site under a 10-year lease, was shut down when the lease expired. The nonprofit Kahumana had operated the shelter under a contract with the state Department of Human Services and had to vacate, although, according to DHHL, the Hawaiian Homes Commission later extended the lease by a year.

But there is no new contractor yet taking over operations, so that means almost 80 families were upheaved, with no place to go.

This is the kind of disruption that needs to be avoided. Social service agencies that do outreach to the homeless have documented that the longer a person is left to his or her own devices on the street, the more accustomed they grow to that lifestyle, and the more resistant to housing.

Despite the Ulu Ke Kukui shelter snafu, there might be some movement in the right direction. In Waianae, community leaders will discuss regional concerns at 7 p.m. March 14 at Waianae District Park’s Multipurpose Room. And Lt. Gov. Josh Green is focused on various strategies aimed at turning around lives.

The proposed “lift zones” — mobile navigation centers where people can be connected to help — have potential to bring services to the homeless right where they are.

The same could be said for the “ohana zones” for which last year’s Legislature appropriated $30 million. The governor in December unveiled a plan to tap $17.3 million of those funds for expanded emergency shelter space, and has signed an emergency proclamation that will suspend some of the procurement requirements to expedite creating the shelters.

Additionally, lawmakers are pressing ahead with Senate Bill 1131, which would further increase the ohana zone sites on Oahu, where the problem is most acute, from three to six.

Clearly, more action is needed, beyond the talk. The complexities of homelessness, from delivering mental health services to the suffering, to addressing substance abuse and other destabilizing problems, are relentless challenges. But that only means Hawaii must be relentless in its efforts to whittle away at the deficits — starting with retaining transitional shelter space for those who desperately need it.