People need real homes, not emergency shelters

IT IS distressing to see Hawaii on the verge of losing a golden opportunity to make serious inroads in reducing homelessness. Twenty years of evidence in the fight against homelessness has demonstrated clearly that emergency shelters simply do not work. Too often, they exacerbate the very problem they were meant to attack. Yet, apparently, this is the path chosen by the state.

But there is another path. Brilliantly articulated in 2001 by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the key ingredients include permanent supportive housing for the chronically homeless, short-term rental housing subsidies for working families, housing specialists acting as rental agents to help locate and negotiate a rental situation, and prevention programs that identify those at risk for homelessness and that work to keep them housed. And this new approach is actually cheaper than operating emergency shelters.

Parts of the plan had already been implemented in Hawaii. Now, suddenly it seems, this plan is being usurped.

Most people don't realize that the new Kakaako emergency shelter is a failure and further proof that we need to put a moratorium on any new emergency shelters. A failure? How could that be? Why, it's brimming with all these smiling children.

First, the vast majority of these smiling children were not homeless prior to the opening of Kakaako. The new shelter gave reason for many families to leave their "natural supports" for "governmental supports" because it puts them at the top of the list for public housing. We need policies that will bolster natural supports, not decimate them.

Second, few of the original Ala Moana park people are staying at the Kakaako shelter. Park people and shelter people are usually two different types of people. Park people want their privacy -- some for substance abuse, some due to their mental illness, some because they just like to live alone. For those who do like the shelter, it further institutionalizes them. Having worked at the Institute for Human Services for three years, I can attest that it becomes difficult to get people to leave a place once they are accustomed to it. Everyone is like this -- you, me, the houseless, no different.

Third, building and maintaining Kakaako did not create one more affordable rental housing situation. It merely increased competition among homeless individuals and families for the few subsidies available. There are only 20 to 30 new public housing or Section 8 spots per month in the state because no one thought to increase the supply of what is needed -- permanent housing assistance. It's like solving the sewer problem by building more toilets.

If the state really wants to help build more shelters on the Waianae Coast, then put the current shelters projects already in the works on a fast track and get them operational. We have three in various stages: the Housing Solutions/Waianae Community Outreach Village complex (50 units), the Hawaii Coalition of Churches multifacility complex (80 units) and the 35-unit expansion at Ohana Ola. Other homeless agencies on the Leeward sides also have plans for increased residential capacity that could be expedited with the state's assistance. No need for new plans.

Any new state homeless initiative should go into permanent supportive housing supports. A 10 percent dedication from the Rental Housing Trust Fund could free up funds to move 200 to 300 chronically homeless individuals and families into permanent housing now. And by moving families and individuals through the existing system of transitional and emergency shelters faster, we will enhance overall capacity.

I know running an emergency shelter can give you the warm fuzzies. It's like your own little kindergarten room where you can dole out mats, snacks, moral lessons and admonishments -- and even allow TV time.

But these people are adults. They're ready for housing now, not one to two or five years down the road, after they have passed through someone's moral inspection. The same reason many of us enjoy great prosperity in the islands has put many of them into this situation. Rents rise because someone can pay it -- just not them. Let's them get a real place to live and help them to keep it, because when the lights go out at bedtime in an emergency shelter, the people living there are still homeless.

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