Bills aim to add ‘tiny home’ sites for homeless

Bills are moving through the House and Senate that would expand Gov. Josh Green’s vision of creating more communities of tiny homes across the state to house the homeless and provide them with social services to reduce the islands’ homeless population.

The latest version of Senate Bill 1442 would provide $15 million to expand the “kauhale” concept, which is also known as ohana zones. The money would include operational expenses, upkeep and social service costs.

The latest version of House Bill 671 does not specify the amount of funding.

Both bills have received overwhelming support through written testimony from state agencies and social service organizations that work with the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless.

The lone opposition was from a resident who opposed HB 671, questioning the premise that the kauhale concept is still a “pilot” project.

The idea was inspired by a visit to Austin, Texas, by then-Lt. Gov. Green and Nani Medeiros, who has since become his Cabinet-level chief housing officer.

Previously, Medeiros was executive director of HomeAid Hawaii, a hui of builders and developers who provided materials, manpower and expertise to build Hawaii’s first kauhale of 37 120-square-foot tiny homes in Kalaeloa for some of Hawaii’s chronically homeless and most-troubled people living on the street and in shelters.

Kama‘oku, as it’s called, was built under an emergency proclamation by then-Gov. David Ige with the Hawaii Public Housing Authority collaborating on construction with HomeAid Hawaii.

It was built on 1.5 acres of decommissioned Naval Air Station Barbers Point land off Yorktown Street and opened in 2021 at a cost of $20,000 per unit.

Residents receive medical, mental health and other treatment, social services and job preparation and training through U.S. Vets, which is located just a few minutes’ walk nearby.

The Kalaeloa homes are wired with electricity and ceiling fans and face one another so residents can interact, grow vegetables that they eat, and gather in communal indoor and outdoor spaces. A commercial kitchen serves as a culinary training program.

There are separate men’s and women’s communal restrooms and showers. An on-site medical facility was created by renovating a dilapidated 2,800-square-foot building from military days.

The Kalaeloa kauhale idea has since expanded to Wai­manalo, and a third is going up in Waianae to house the former occupants of a sprawling homeless encampment next to the Waianae Small Boat Harbor.

A fourth has broken ground on the Kona side of Hawaii island.

Ten more kauhale are under consideration across the state, Medeiros said. “And private landowners are stepping forward,” she said.

Asked how many units could be built with $15 million in state funds, Medeiros said the number would vary depending on the size of each unit and how many people or families would be accommodated.

Some of the Waianae tiny homes are twice as big as the original ones in Kalaeloa, she said.

“And construction costs have gone up,” Medeiros said. “The main thing is you really save on construction by sharing the infrastructure, and you don’t have huge plumbing or electrical costs. Kauhale is really about creating communities as a way to end houselessness.”

Nikos Leverenz, grants and advancement manager for the Hawai‘i Health &Harm Reduction Center, wrote in support of SB 1442, saying, “Ohana zones have been useful mechanism to address unsheltered homelessness in recent years.”

Many of its homeless clients, Leverenz wrote, have “behavioral health problems, including those related to substance use and mental health conditions. Many of our program clients and participants have also been deeply impacted by trauma, including histories of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse.”

Keali‘i Lopez, state director of AARP Hawai‘i, urged legislators to look at ohana zones from the perspective of older residents facing eviction.

“Hawaii’s high cost of housing is making it unaffordable for many, but especially for those at low or fixed income,” Lopez wrote in support of SB 1442. “These residents are more vulnerable of becoming dependent on other family members for shelter, or face homelessness.”

She cited AARP statistical analysis indicating that close to 1,000 adults in Hawaii age 55 and older are expected to be evicted this year, and more than 1,500 are expected to experience homelessness.

“Funding the Ohana zone pilot program allows the continuation of these innovative solutions that address the housing and homelessness issues,” Lopez wrote.