Buildings to move to Kauai shelter site
A homeless facility is behind schedule but will be done next year
LIHUE » Kauai will finish the first phase of work toward opening its homeless shelter this week, county officials have announced.
The emergency shelter, to house 19 people, and transitional housing, to house 20, will be completed within six months, Kauai Mayor Bryan Baptiste said in a release.
The project is five months behind schedule.
The portable structures, which were to be moved to the site in July, instead will be transported by the end of this month, officials said. Refurbishment, expected to take six months, will then begin.
"I am pleased that the emergency shelter and transitional housing project is moving forward," said Baptiste. "We're a little behind schedule, but when it's finally completed, the people who need the shelter will definitely benefit from it."
State and county funding from a variety of sources totaling more than $2.4 million will pay for the project.
The four portables will be used along with a former Department of Education building on the Lihue site.
Gov. Linda Lingle transferred use of the project site to the county through an executive order, and the county is leasing the site to Kauai Economic Opportunity Inc. to operate the homeless shelter.