Honolulu’s first “Housing First” project is stalled after four years of work even as the state moves forward on its own such initiative.
The River River Street residences are a victim of neighborhood opposition in Chinatown. But the state sees the Housing First concept as a viable solution to reducing homelessness.
Last week, Gov. Linda Lingle allowed the state’s first Housing First bill to become law without her signature. But it has no dedicated funding, no identified site for a project nor a plan to deal with the NIMBY-ism that has squelched the city’s effort.
, formerly , seeks to create permanent residences for the chronically homeless and help them with drug addiction and mental illness. The state’s Hawaii Public Housing Authority is given the authority to implement the program.
“The Housing First concept has been very effective as a cleanup tool in eight major cities,” said House Rep. Rida Cabanilla, a co-sponsor of HB 2318, in a July 7 statement. “The target population is homeless who linger in streets, parks and major tourist hubs … This is a business as well as a humane model in addressing Hawaii’s homeless problem.”
But the City & County of Honolulu has met resistance in implementation of its own Housing First project, a 100-unit rental facility on River Street in Chinatown.
Although the idea, originally budgeted for $10.6 million, came in response to a 2006 Chinatown summit on homelessness, crime and drug use convened by Mayor Mufi Hannemann, area businesses and residents have since rallied against it.
Chinatown is “overwhelmingly opposed” to the project, Frank Lavoie, chairman of the Downtown Neighborhood Board No. 13, wrote to the Honolulu City Council May 25. “It felt as if Chinatown was once again being used as a dumping ground for the island’s problems.”
The River Street Residences is the City and County of Honolulu Government‘s attempt to replicate an affordable housing model used in other states. Housing First is based on the premise that the “path to recovery” from homelessness requires housing coupled with treatment programs. Help with education and employment follow.
The was to be built on city land at 1311 River Street, located between Kuakini Street and Vineyard Boulevard in the Chinatown district downtown. The land area, totaling about 27,000 square feet, currently holds a two-story commercial building with at-grade parking.
But, as the city began to seek requests for proposals from qualified nonprofit agencies to develop the residences — studio and one-bedroom units to accommodate single adults, couples and perhaps small families — Chinatown businesses and residents rose up in opposition.
At Hannemann’s summit on homelessness June 29, the mayor, who resigns July 20 to run for governor, admitted that the city may now have to look elsewhere to build the Housing First project.
Debbie Morikawa, director of the Department of Community Services, the city’s primary agency for coordinating projects to help the homeless, says the River Street Residences project is still alive. But she acknowledged that it will be difficult to implement.
“In all honesty, I don’t know if the Chinatown community will ever accept this project,” she told Civil Beat Friday. “That is why the mayor said if it gets to that point we would look at other projects in other communities. But I am working on this as if this is going to happen.”
Worries About Attracting Crime
The city has worked hard to ease the fears of Chinatown denizens, telling them that the River Street Residences would be staffed around the clock and would not attract more homeless people.
On a document on the city’s website, the city still defends the project.
“A city prosecuting attorney has repeatedly stated that 75 percent of the crime committed in Chinatown is carried out by people who live outside of the district,” according to the city. “The people to be served by the River Street Residences are generally not the ones involved in the crimes … Furthermore, having a new building and a 24-hour presence in the neighborhood will be more likely to increase the safety and security in a currently dangerous part of town riddled with active drug dealing.”
The city points out as well that the downtown and Chinatown area is home to social service providers precisely because that is where people in need of the services congregate.
But Chinatown has soured on the River Street Residences.
In a May 16 letter to the Honolulu City Council, the Chinatown Gateway Plaza Tenant Association wrote, “What overall benefit do we gain from Housing First if we disrespect, divide, and diminish the community that we put it in? Of course, we need to house people, but we need honest community-based decision making to support housing people in healthy communities. Shoving our community aside to drop any project in our midst is a bad trade off.”
As part of the city’s capital improvement budget for fiscal year 2011, which went into effect July 1, the Council included a proviso that requires the mayor’s administration to work with the Chinatown community on addressing concerns about the River Street Residences.
Morikawa said the current funding for the project is $7.6 million.
The City’s Homeless Front
Despite the stalling of the River Street Residences project — as well as the recent bickering between the Hannemann administration and Lingle administration over homelessness — the city deserves some credit for tackling the complex issue.
For example, using grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Honolulu’s Department of Community Services directs between $5 million to $7 million annually to help homeless service providers with shelter and care programs.
The city also leases 56 properties to groups that provide emergency shelters, such as the Institute for Human Services in downtown Honolulu. And the city funds about a dozen low-income, affordable housing projects such as 47-unit Piikoi Vista Apartments and others in development like the 192-unit Hui Kauhale complex in Ewa.
At Hannemann’s June 29 forum, Morikawa said, “The city has embraced collaborative programs and worked closely with many service providers and nonprofits,” noting that it had administered a combined $28.2 million in HUD grants.
Past administrations, said Morikawa, had only considered “Band-Aid” measures, though she acknowledged that the Hannemann administration had worked to ban homeless people from parks and other public facilities.
“The mayor has done a really good job,” said Morikawa. “I am proud to be serving and working under him.”
The Council Gets Involved
The City Council has been debating a resolution that would ask voters if they want to see an Office of Housing established in the mayor’s administration. Resolution was deferred in committee but previously passed two Council votes.
Hawaii’s other three county governments have a housing office, as does the state. Groups like Faith Action for Community Equity and Ohana Housing Network Oahu support the resolution.
But it is the River Street Residences Project that has garnered the most attention, primarily because Chinatown businesses and residents don’t want it.
The Council in June shelved on the matter that would have urged the city administration “promptly issue” a request for proposals on the project.
“The ‘Housing First’ model has proven successful in other areas, such as Philadelphia, where street homelessness was reduced over 50 percent, and in San Francisco and Denver, where street homelessness in each city was reduced by 40 percent,” according to the Council.
Folks in Chinatown want no part of it.
“This resolution attempts to bypass the need to hear from the Chinatown Community and fails to show respect of the wishes of people who live and work in Chinatown,” wrote the Chinatown Business & Community Association on May 27.
Legislature Could Expand Housing Program
Meanwhile, the Lingle administration continues to concentrate on building more shelter space while lawmakers toy with flying some homeless people back to the mainland communities from where they came.
Act 212, meanwhile, is not without weaknesses.
Because of the Legislature’s struggle this session to balance its budget, the act did not receive any state funding. Instead, the act sets up a special fund that could receive moneys later; in the meantime, lawmakers hope the counties, public agencies and the private sector will contribute.
But it is a step forward and comes as the Lingle administration and social-service providers have chocked up success in putting more homeless people into shelters. It requires a full report to the 2011 Legislature tallying the number of participants in the program, total costs, and details on types of services that are offered. If lawmakers see progress, the Housing First program could be expanded.
“This is an effective step toward reducing homelessness in Hawaii,” said Rep. John Mizuno, who co-sponsored the legislation with fellow Democrat Cabanilla. “Stability rather than shuffling them from park to park is a more cost effective and humane way to deal with homelessness in Hawaii.”
However, the state may encounter the same kind of resistance to Housing First that the city has experienced in Chinatown.
“Studies show that Housing First is the only project that works to deal with the chronically homeless, and we need to get this across to our communities,” said Morikawa, who said the RFP process for River Street Residences is on hold. “Housing First really works. But it’s not an easy project, and any homeless project in any community always faces challenges. And since this is the first one here, that’s not unusual.”
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About the Author
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Chad Blair is the politics editor for Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at cblair@civilbeat.org or follow him on Twitter at .