Forty five years ago this month, what is now the Institute for Human Services opened Hawaii’s first and what has become its largest homeless shelters, playing a critical role in recent years as the exploding homeless population gave the state at one point the ignoble distinction of having the highest per capita rate of homelessness in the country.
During an Oahu visit last week, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge told local and congressional leaders that “what we know is that Hawaii is the most expensive state to live in” with the highest per capita rate of homelessness among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, at 121 per 10,000 residents.
Data from HUD census counts showed that for several years after a Kakaako encampment in 2015 had grown unmanageable and dangerous, Hawaii had the nation’s highest per capita rate of homelessness, putting IHS at the forefront of tackling the problem.
IHS Executive Director Connie Mitchell last week cried during an interview with the Honolulu Star- Advertiser as she talked about a new crisis: the growing number of senior citizens arriving at the agency’s men’s and women’s shelters, or being left by families who cannot care for relatives with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
“It’s just so sad,” Mitchell said, apologizing for tearing up. “Some of those are the most tragic. Seniors showing up at our door scares me half to death. You’ve got people who got priced out or were living with a parent who died. Others broke up with their partners. We’ve had people who say, ‘We just can’t care for Pop anymore.’ Sometimes they feel it’s easier to place them with us. It’s just so sad.”
IHS continues to work on innovative solutions to address the root causes of homelessness as a tenet of its founder, the Rev. Claude Du Teil, who understood that homeless people needed more than beds when he began offering peanut butter sandwiches and coffee throughout Chinatown in what became his “peanut butter ministry.”
>> RELATED: IHS in constant need of skilled volunteers
Du Teil knew what he preached. He was an alcoholic who suffered from depression when he opened a temporary shelter in July 1978 at 1128 Smith St. in Chinatown.
Sixty people at a time were offered shelter, alcoholism education, and support and counseling. The site also served as a mailing address for the homeless. Those who were willing received assistance finding jobs and applying for government aid.
The services and concepts became a foundation to addressing homelessness across the islands that continues today.
Under the 17-year leadership of Mitchell, city and state officials continue to rely on IHS to run new homeless programs never before attempted in Hawaii, after one of the country’s largest homeless encampments of approximately 300 adults, children and families exploded into the open in Kakaako around the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine and the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center in the summer of 2015.
The encampment was fueled by frustration after the city enforced Hawaii’s first “sit-lie ban” outlawing sitting or lying on public sidewalks in Waikiki. Homeless people packed up and walked Ewa along Ala Moana Boulevard and settled in Kakaako parks in plain view of tourists driving in and out of Waikiki.
Some told the Star-Advertiser at the time that they set up tents and structures in Kakaako because the encampment was growing so large that they assumed law enforcement was leaving them alone.
The Star- Advertiser spent the summer of 2015 documenting the challenges faced by then-Mayor Kirk Caldwell and then-Gov. David Ige, and the complex reasons the occupants became homeless in the first place, along with the ramifications of sweeping large and small encampments.
Some had been homeless for years and had histories of abuse — often from childhood — along with mental health and substance abuse problems. Others were families with young children whose parents worked but could not afford housing at market rates.
Many parents said family values were nonexistent in Kakaako because their children felt betrayed and did not respect them. Several were living in their vehicles, at risk of having them towed because of overdue registration and safety check fees, putting them one step away from ending up on the street.
Problems quickly arose with so many packed into crowded, unsanitary conditions where people frequently defecated into buckets and illegally and dangerously tapped into water and power lines.
And there was violence.
Then-state Rep. Tom Brower, who represented the area, was photographing and video-recording the encampment on June 29, 2015, at the intersection of Ohe and Olomehani streets when a mob of as many as 10 people chased him into a row of bushes at the doorstep to the Children’s Discovery Center, where Brower fell as he was beaten in front of children and their parents.
The attack forced government officials and the community at large to confront the results of inaction in addressing homelessness and the sometimes unintended consequences of sweeps and enforcement.
The beating left Brower with a cut near his right eye, facial swelling, bruised ribs and scrapes on his leg and hand. Two of his alleged assailants were cousins, ages 14 and 17.
The 14-year-old’s mother, Rose Pu‘u, had been living homeless with her four boys for seven years in Kakaako. She acknowledged the mistakes she had made and a past that she said included domestic violence.
A year after the attack, Pu‘u and her sons got a fresh start when they moved into a two-bedroom, two- bathroom “Housing First” apartment in Aiea, where the family received a range of social services for issues such as money management, job assistance and applying for government benefits.
According to Caldwell, Mitchell was the first to support the then-new Housing First concept to take the most chronically homeless people off the street and place them in market-rate apartments, paid for by federal housing vouchers.
“Connie was the first to embrace the Housing First model and was the first person to step up when the City and County asked her to be part of it,” he said. “This is what is unique about Connie and the leadership of IHS: They’re always willing to step out of the box to make a difference when the other (service) providers were embracing more traditional models and would give reasons why it wouldn’t work or even adapt it to what they were doing.
“I’m so grateful for Connie for stepping up. I just wish there was more than one Connie. Imagine what we could accomplish if there were 10 more Connies.”
A flurry of new housing and service ideas quickly became reality, and Caldwell and Ige vowed to coordinate — especially in Kakaako, where there is a mix of state- and city-owned properties and private land with different jurisdictional responsibilities.
The community was horrified by images of unsupervised toddlers wandering the streets of Kakaako and living in cramped, unsanitary conditions among chronically homeless adults with mental health and substance abuse issues, often with criminal histories.
Ige’s administration quickly converted an under-used storage shed on the edge of Kakaako Waterfront Park into a transitional shelter for the encampment’s families, with an emphasis on training to provide them with financial stability and get them into traditional housing.
The city placed converted shipping containers on an empty lot off Sand Island Access Road as transitional housing for chronically homeless adults and couples called Hale Mauliola, which included separate bathrooms and communal areas.
It was Mitchell’s idea to allow the occupants of Hale Mauliola — for the first time — to be housed with their pets because homeless people frequently refuse to move into shelters if it means abandoning them.
“She took that over and said, ‘Kirk, people can come with their pets,’” Caldwell said. “‘That’s their family, the only love and contact they have with another living creature.’”
IHS continues to run Hale Mauliola and provide social services for the residents.
Nearby, on the makai edge of the H-1 freeway viaduct, Caldwell, Ige, businessman Duane Kurisu, the construction industry and IHS worked together on the much-praised and first-of-its-kind Kahauiki Village to create permanent, affordable housing for homeless families out of pre-fabricated homes.
Kurisu grew up on a Hawaii island plantation and wanted to replicate that sense of community at Kahauiki Village, a concept now embraced by Gov. Josh Green’s kauhale tiny-home projects to provide permanent housing.
Kahauiki Village arose out of an old paintball field on state land. The city laid sewer and water lines. There is on-site child care, and private industry jobs are provided to adults willing to work.
IHS continues to run Kahauiki Village.
Mayor Rick Blangiardi said of Mitchell, “I’ve found her to be truly exceptional at every level. She has compassion and intelligence and grit. I admire her toughness and determination, as good as anything I’ve seen. I’ve always called her St. Connie. … She’s not afraid to be innovative and recognize that there’s no simple solution. You’ve got to have somebody who’s open-minded.”
Mitchell frequently tears up while talking about efforts to help different segments of Oahu’s homeless population. But Caldwell said it’s a mistake to confuse her compassion and sensitivity for weakness.
“Yes, she’s very motherly and at press conferences she would cry and get caught up in the moment talking about the possibilities of how to help people,” Caldwell said. “But if she believed in something, she could be the hardest steel around to get things done. If you get between her and those she’s trying to help, watch out. She’s going to do everything she can with the tools she has. That’s why IHS has been so successful. It’s now the peanut butter ministry on steroids.”
As IHS turns 45, Blangiardi also talked about its accomplishments under Mitchell in the context of its origins under Du Teil.
“If Father Du Teil was alive today,” Blangiardi said, “he would look at her with pride.”
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The Institute for Human Services operates the following:
>> Men’s shelter on Sumner Street.
>> Women’s and family shelter on Kaaahi Street, which includes a rooftop aquaponic garden that provides urban agriculture training and education for IHS clients and the community.
>> Monthly drop-in service fairs at St. Mary’s in Moiliili and St. Augustine’s in Waikiki.
>> Kaamahu Housing and Employment Service Center next to the women’s and family shelter.
>> Veterans Engaged in Transition (V.E.T.) House in Kalihi Valley in partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
>> The city’s Hale Mauliola Housing Navigation Center on Sand Island.
>> Kahauiki Village along the H-1 freeway viaduct that provides permanent, prefabricated housing for formerly homeless families, along with jobs.
>> Four “medical respite” homes named after the wife of IHS founder Rev. Claude Du Teil, Roberta, called “Tutu Bert” homes, in Kalihi, Makiki, Kailua and Pearl City.
>> Two “re-entry” homes for homeless, former inmates in Kalihi: Beacon of Hope for women and House of Redemption for men.
>> The Kalihi-Uka Recovery Home shelter for homeless people with substance abuse issues.
>> The Homeless Intensive Case Management Plus Program next to the women’s shelter aimed at chronically homeless clients who frequently use emergency services or are frequently arrested.
>> A monthly outreach fair on the Windward side, along with churches, a Hawaiian Civic Club and the YMCA, to help homeless and at-risk households.
>> The city’s Homeless Outreach and Navigation for Unsheltered Persons (HONU) pop-up mobile shelters, in partnership with the Honolulu Police Department.
Source: Institute for Human Services
