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What are the housing needs right now you see resulting from COVID-19?
Our best estimate is that when the federal Unemployment Insurance “plus up” expired in August, roughly 21,500 renters were placed at significant risk of losing their housing. Our subcommittee proposed a state housing assistance program, a variant of which launched in early September. Within the first two weeks, the program received nearly 10,000 applications, so it seems that initial estimate of need was not far off.
But, there are some big caveats. First, funds must be disbursed quickly. We’ve seen the city’s Household Relief Fund, state unemployment insurance, contact tracing, and other efforts hamstrung by red tape and lack of transparency. We need government to provide real-time information, and engage community as a partner.
Second, we know many will struggle to access relief because they’re living multiple families to a home; don’t have formal, long-term lease agreements; or face language, technology, or other barriers. These folks are losing their housing right now. We must make a concerted effort to reach them immediately.
What about addressing longer- term housing needs that result from COVID?
There has always been ferocious competition for space in Hawaii. COVID has intensified this by forcing us to de-crowd. Right now, there’s no room for many of our people, including families that were doubled- or tripled-up prior to COVID; people released early from incarceration; and people who had their incomes slashed and can no longer afford their rent. These pressures will last through 2021 and likely beyond. At the same time, people with wealthwill look to purchase property as prices fall. Hawaii could become a place only for people with very deep pockets, even more so than it is today.
State and local governments can combat this by using federal CARES Act funds to acquire vacant properties for community purposes, including housing. But, we cannot depend on government to save us. Households and organizations with excess land or built space should look for ways to open them up for community uses. Charitable and philanthropic groups should double efforts to build truly affordable and sustainable communities.
We must resist NIMBYism that blocks truly affordable and sustainable communities. Keeping our culture of aloha demands that there always be space for diverse people with a shared love of these islands.
How should we address homelessness during the pandemic?
We need to stop wasting precious resources on sweeping homeless people and jailing them for park, sidewalk and emergency order violations. Sweeps have relocated encampments, broken people’s connections with service providers, and made it harder for outreach workers to serve people.
In a month, homeless people are issued dozens of citations for park, sidewalk, and emergency order violations, and then are sent to jail when they miss a court date. Millions are poured into temporary solutions like HPD’s POST. We should be putting all of these resources into creating more permanent, affordable space for people instead.
Are there any bright spots related to housing and homelessness you’re seeing?
A huge bright spot is the ingenuity and generosity of our people. Dozens of nonprofits, community groups, advocates and volunteers came together to help shape the state housing relief proposal. There were also key change agents within government that urged their bureaucracies to be flexible, transparent, and to partner with community. Neighbor island governments are models of this — they have deeper relationships and trust with their communities, driving them to put community needs above compliance-related fears and to tap community as a resource.
We saw a similar outpouring of community support when the city closed all park bathrooms in March due to staff and supply limitations. Hui Aloha and ALEA Bridge launched an effort to recruit homeless volunteers to clean bathrooms on a daily basis. Donors from the community provided cleaning supplies and PPE. These “Bathroom Brigades” have been disinfecting bathrooms in a dozen parks across Oahu, every day, since April.
The commitment of volunteers and donors is inspiring. Government should support and encourage community efforts like this, rather than attempting to “go it alone,” or worse, stifling them.
Are there opportunities on the horizon to address housing and homelessness?
COVID has exposed key, longstanding problems, and gives us a chance to address them: an economy that makes many of us extremely vulnerable; a government under-resourced in key areas and hamstrung by risk-aversion. The people of Hawaii can lead change in these areas, not only by creating community-based solutions, but also by uniting behind calls for change in this election and elections to come.
The more united we are as a people — taking time to break out of our respective bubbles, to know each other’s pain and appreciate each other’s gifts — the more power we will have to shape our economy, our government, and our society together.
THE BIO FILE
>> Title: Community builder, advocate and social entrepreneur.
>> Professional experience: Cofounder of Kanu Hawaii and Hui Aloha, two nonprofit community-building efforts; co-founder of 3Point Consulting and Social Ventures LLC, two businesses providing public policy research and social enterprise advisory services.
>> Community work: Board member of the Hauoli Mau Loa Foundation; board member of Dynamic Community Solutions, the nonprofit of Puuhonua O Waianae; member of the House Select Committee on COVID-19; chairman of the House Subcommittee on COVID-19 and Housing.
>> Personal: Fan of Puuhonua O Waianae and its leader, Twinkle Borge.
>> One more thing: I shifted my focus from environmental sustainability to housing and homelessness five years ago. I started by pitching a tent in an encampment and getting to know people, their stories and how all of our systems work (or don’t) from their perspective.
>> Guilty pleasure: Binge watching “The Expanse” while sipping scotch.
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