Rob Van Tassell, the new president and CEO of Catholic Charities Hawaii (CCH), has been to Hawaii before.
“Michelle and I spent two weeks on the North Shore for our 10th wedding anniversary,” he said. “We absolutely fell in love with the natural beauty of Hawaii and, most of all, the people, as they were all very welcoming. We knew we would want to come back.”
He did. In his previous job as vice president of Catholic Housing Services in western Washington, Van Tassell came to Hawaii to assist the Catholic Diocese officials in honing the church’s housing best practices.
“They wanted me to come out here and start to help them lay out a roadmap to where they wanted to be in the future,” he said. “But they were not meeting with Catholic Charities Hawaii (which is guided by, but operates independently of, the Catholic Church). I was asking why, and they said (CCH) didn’t have a CEO … and then I got a call from the recruiter.”
Van Tassell started work on Nov. 4.
CCH, with a $30 million annual budget, has 30 programs and services that assist the poor and the vulnerable, regardless of faith or background — about 40,000 people a year. With help from government and private financing, CCH develops and manages affordable housing and provide services to the homeless. It also assists foster children, legal immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship, pregnant women, veterans and those in need of a wide range of counseling services. CCH runs the Lanakila Multi-Purpose Senior Center in Kalihi, the largest senior center in the state, serving 1,500 kupuna. Senior services are a growing need, Van Tassell said.
“While more of our kupuna are living on fixed incomes that are extremely low, we are experiencing an increase in demand for services such as Medicare, Medicaid, home health care, transportation, veteran benefits and even basic, essential needs such as food and clothing,” he said. “The number of seniors struggling every day to get by is at unprecedented levels, and only getting worse.”
Van Tassell hopes to make progress in his area of expertise: developing affordable housing. He said the Washington state agency he worked for helped put up more than 30 housing projects that serve nearly 10,000 residents “in homeless, low-income, special needs, family, farmworker and senior housing developments.”
He expressed interest in testing some innovations developed in Washington state to see if they will work here, including more efficient construction and design methods, new financing structures and other cost-saving measures to stretch limited funding. But he stressed that he’s still learning: “The team here has laid a solid foundation, and I still have much to learn by listening and observing.”
Van Tassell, 55, spent most of his childhood on Whidbey Island, Wash., and attended the University of Washington. He and his wife, the parents of three adult daughters, live in Hawaii Kai. They recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary.
Question: What drew you to this job at Catholic Charities Hawaii? Are you a Catholic yourself?
Answer: The mission and values of our agency. Catholic Charities Hawaii has a long legacy of serving the most poor and vulnerable, while maintaining a high standard of excellence and a strong financial position. The staff here is devoted and hard-working; our board is highly dedicated to the mission and leaders in the community.
For me, this work is my response to the calling of my Catholic faith. I believe the church and Catholic Charities Hawaii are well positioned to use their assets and gifts in service to the poor.
Q: How did you prepare to lead CCH?
A: I learn by reading a lot, but I’m also very people-oriented. Right now I’m going out and visiting all the sites … to learn everything and meet with everybody. What do they call it? Management by walking around.
I’m also a CPA, so I go through the numbers, I pore through the finances. … It tells me a story, the balance sheet and the income statement together. Then I can do year-to-year comparisons to see how we’re doing in terms of growth and all the rest, and I can see where there’s opportunity.
Q: What do the numbers tell you?
A: It’s a healthy organization, for sure. It’s got a very strong endowment. It’s a very strong balance sheet. A lot of their ratios are where they should be.
Q: What is CCH’s role in the state’s “ohana zone” homeless initiative?
A: CCH was awarded $7.5 million over three years as part of the state’s “ohana zones” program to provide housing and services to homeless people. CCH opened the Villages of Maili last March. (It) has served 240 homeless people, with 70 moving into permanent housing. The funding helped cover renovation costs, as well as set up social service programs like housing and job searches, ensuring access to healthy meals and providing on-site health services.
Q: Other projects?
A: While not part of the ohana zone program, another state property run by CCH is the Family Assessment Center (FAC) in Kakaako, which opened in the fall of 2016. The center provides a temporary safe haven for homeless families with young children.
These families work with us to make connections with social services, family and employment opportunities with the goal of moving into stable housing within 90 days. So far, we’ve served 142 families, with an 86% success rate in transitioning them to long-term housing (122 placed in housing).
The police really believe in the program, and I think that’s a key thing — to bring together the social services and the public safety officers. … What they really liked about our program was that it was really easy to bring (homeless families) into the (transitional housing) — our staff met them where they were. There wasn’t a lot of prejudging that went on and families felt very welcomed, and we could accommodate because of the way the space was designed.
Q: Should we tackle homelessness differently in Hawaii than in Washington state?
A: I’m still learning, and I’m definitely being very careful in making any prejudgments in understanding. I really believe there are some similarities, but there are definitely differences. The first thing I did, because I heard so much about him and what he had done with Kahauiki Village (near Sand Island), was go and visit with Duane Kurisu. (The village) is state of the art. There’s nothing like it anywhere else. It’s off the grid. All the services he’s got there, from child care to a post office to a store … I quickly realized there are some of the best practices right here.
Q: CCH is participating in the 2020 Empower project. What’s that about?
A: We just recently received this grant and are working with Hawaii Energy to identify and implement opportunities to reduce our energy usage. Our employees will also receive training on the benefits of energy efficiency for years to come that will reduce our usage and costs.
Q: What other affordable housing programs is CCH making a priority?
A: CCH is building affordable housing through its own housing development corporation. The nonprofit organization owns, develops, and manages real estate properties to provide affordable housing for the elderly and special needs individuals, or those socially or economically disadvantaged.
One example of our housing efforts is the Meheula Vista senior housing complex in Mililani. We are halfway done building the planned 300-unit project, which provides affordable rentals for seniors who qualify. We’re planning on opening the third phase of this housing development this year. We also provide on-site case management services and programs for the residents.
We will have a similar 165-unit senior rental housing development on Maui in downtown Kahului called Kahului Lani. The first phase of Kahului Lani will include a six-story building with 82 units and is expected to be completed early this year.
Q: Besides housing, what other goals does CCH have to help the poor?
A: CCH will actively continue to collaborate with other providers to solve the increasing demands for housing, housing services, senior care and counseling services. We will also be reaching out to our fellow Catholic institutions in health care, education, social services as well as parishes, schools and other to work together in advocacy with the poor. As one united voice for the poor and in service to the poor, we will be guided by the poor to enable them to help themselves and achieve self-sufficiency.
