Editorial: Big ambitions for tiny houses

‘Kauhale” in Hawaiian is a cluster of houses that together make a home — a family compound, a community. A perfect name for a new housing initiative, its first complex nearing completion in Kalaeloa, on Oahu’s west side.

The 37 tiny homes, barely 100 feet square, are essentially bedrooms for one, placed so their tiny porches face communal spaces. The object is to provide not just shelter, but a neighborhood. Residents will pay minimal monthly rent in exchange for a secure room with electricity, and access to shared bathroom and dining facilities, even a garden. This means having a real address, a safe room to sleep and a place to leave their possessions so they can hold jobs and take care of other needs. To have lives, essentially.

Kama‘oku, the community’s formal name, is the first in a statewide kauhale system that Lt. Gov. Josh Green and others have long hoped to build. The program almost hit the skids in 2020 when the Legislature killed a $20 million bill that would have funded a one-year pilot program. The nonprofit group HomeAid Hawaii, in partnership with the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, still proceeded at Kalaeloa, only to face pandemic-related delays.

But perseverance has led to reality, and hope for the chronically homeless, among the most difficult to move off the street.

Also moving forward with help from HomeAid is a similar project in Waianae, one that can accommodate families but is similar to the kauhale idea of small, private living spaces coupled with larger communal facilities. Puuhonua o Waianae Houseless Makai Village will be a collection of 90 duplexes, or 180 homes, largely for residents of an encampment at Waianae Small Boat Harbor who’ve been helping to build the new structures.

Both these concepts are creative, cost-wise approaches to an intractable problem. Making a serious dent in homelessness requires a spectrum of creative solutions, as the population itself is so varied. Even if there were more available, affordable single-family homes or apartments aren’t suited to all; neither are transitional shelters. These smaller homes fill a place on that spectrum for those who would do better in more of a village setting.

Without bathrooms or kitchens, these structures can be built at lower cost. The $20,000 required to build each Kama‘oku home was shared by the state and the nonprofit. It is a hopeful model going forward, better than waiting for scattershot legislative funding.

Kalaeloa, the former Naval Air Station Barbers Point now in state hands, is an ideal launch site for the kauhale program. It has infrastructure in place, even a dilapidated building that has been repurposed into a community facility. It adjoins the business centers of Kapolei with all of their job opportunities. The local chapter of U.S. Vets is a short walk away, offering counseling, medical treatment and job training.

As for localized need: Although the Kapolei area is far from the encampments of urban Honolulu, ask any resident and you’ll hear of campsite sightings in the brush around public parks and in empty structures; at many intersections you’ll see people holding signs that read “homeless,” asking for food or cash.

Of course, just putting up the right structures in the right places is only the beginning. It takes a village, as they say, in this case to build a village. The tiny homes need to be kept attractive and comfortable, with appropriate support services close at hand. HomeAid Hawaii, a building industry coalition, (808) 497-1106, needs donations and labor, as well as help identifying and developing public land for more kauhale. U.S. Vets, (808) 672-2977, also needs donations and volunteers. To help at Puuhonua o Waianae, go to alohaliveshere.org.