Are you tired of seeing the homeless on our streets, beaches, and in our parks? Are you frustrated that nothing seems to work, no matter how much money and resources we throw at the problem? Are you resentful that during this lockdown they are more visible everywhere?

I’m angry that we won’t do the only thing that will resolve this issue: Create significantly more truly affordable housing. Homelessness has always been, first and foremost, an affordable housing crisis.

I’ve been working on this issue for over two years now, as a volunteer with Hui Aloha, with houseless communities, service providers, government employees and elected officials. It’s been intense, working deeply with houseless folks across our island, primarily in Kakaako/Ala Moana, Waianae and Waimanalo.

Here’s the simple truth that I’ve learned: We are never going to resolve this crisis unless we create significantly more truly affordable housing. It’s obvious, yet doing so has eluded us for decades. In large part this is because we’ve lacked the ability to imagine different forms of housing, including communal housing; we’ve lacked the flexibility to build or repurpose structures for affordable living; and we’ve lacked the political will to make the land and capital available for truly affordable housing. This has always been, first and foremost, an affordable housing crisis.

Now we face a situation without precedent: Our tourism-dependent economy has collapsed and we don’t know when we’ll return to some level of economic health. With unemployment currently at over 35%, and no quick fixes, how soon before we see hundreds more in our streets, parks and beaches?

With nearly half of Hawaii living paycheck to paycheck, per the most recent A.L.I.C.E report, it’s conceivable that thousands will be unable to make rent. We already have thousands without homes across the islands. Sweeping people has never solved this crisis.

What will happen if hundreds more, including families, are evicted as rent subsidies end, but tourism and jobs haven’t returned? This has always been, first and foremost, an affordable housing crisis.

Every crisis presents opportunities. Hui Aloha has been working closely with Twinkle Borge, leader of Pu‘uhonua o Waianae, to fund and build a new kauhale — a village of permanent, small homes with shared infrastructure, on land in Waianae Valley.

Twinkle and her community are teaching us how to build and grow true, connected, resilient community, affordably, that can serve as a model for us now. At its final build-out, the village will provide permanent, supportive housing for up to about 250. The estimated cost? $4.5 million, including land. Rent is pegged at approximately $250 per month — a level that those coming off the streets can afford. No recently built affordable housing comes anywhere near those price points for building or for rent.

So, how is it possible? Presently, there are no governmental templates for building this type of housing. Building kauhale-type housing will require that city and state governments allow a new type of housing to be permitted. It will require the use of public lands, public funding and, importantly, an acceptance by the public that if we truly want to get the homeless off of our streets, and out of our parks and beaches, then we will need to build truly affordable, permanent kauhale, sometimes close to them.

The added, incredible benefit is that when grown properly, these communities will become hubs of resiliency and incubators for true community, where we can return to living and caring for each other — living aloha — once again.

Alani Apio is a volunteer with Hui Aloha (huialoha.org).