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Agencies creating
pipeline for needy

By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

Working through Hawaii's nonprofit and government agencies, a homeless individual can eventually become a homeowner.

Representatives from several organizations that help low-income families with housing met recently to discuss how they might collaborate to smooth that transition for the people they serve.

The nonprofits all serve the poor but they have different missions, said Jose Villa, executive director of Habitat for Humanity. Villa brought several groups together last week to discuss what each group has to offer and how they could pull together as a team.

"I have a file drawer full of families that we weren't able to help," Villa said. Instead of closing the door on them, he'd like to be able to set up a referral system so that eventually some of these families would be able to qualify for Habitat's services.

The groups could work together in a continuum, rather than isolate themselves in a vacuum. The output of one program could be the input to the next, he said.

Angel Network Charities and the Honolulu Community Action Program offer transitional housing. With a place to stay, a person could move on to a job-training program, such as WorkHawaii.

Once a person has a source of income, the Waimanalo Community Development Corp. and the Nanakuli Neighborhood Housing Services could offer financial education to potential homebuyers. And Habitat for Humanity and the Consuelo Zoebel Alger Foundation could help put low-income families into their own homes.

Formal and informal partnerships already exist between some groups, but by banding together, the groups could concentrate on their specialities.

There's some redundancy in what the groups offer, Villa said. In the case of Habitat for Humanity, "we're not efficient because we're trying to do too many things that other people do better."

Jim Curtis, Angel Network donation coordinator, said clients would benefit from knowing that they won't just get dropped when they have used one organization's services. In a collaborative situation, "there's someone at the end of the tunnel," he said.

Curtis and Villa have already seen some of the benefits of partnership. Habitat for Humanity has received donations of track lighting, sliding doors and tools that Angel Network couldn't use. Curtis even offered to store the materials, since Villa has no storage space.

Working together, the individual groups could redirect donations, rather than reject them.

They could share other things, too. For instance, both Habitat for Humanity and Angel Network are looking for warehouses -- Angel Network has 30 days to vacate the old Waianae Bowling Alley -- and are considering sharing one big space, perhaps with other nonprofits.

Another possibility is starting a collaboration so the nonprofits can apply for grants together, instead of competing with each other for the same grants. As a group, the organizations could capitalize on complementary services and resources.

The bottom line would be that low-income families would benefit from better organization. Habitat for Humanity can't make any money from the houses they build, so any savings or donations go directly to the homeowner, Villa said.

The groups will meet again in September to further discuss how they can work together.