Churches unite
to house needy

They take turns providing meals for Institute for Human Services homeless shelter and River of Life Mission. Their volunteers run food pantries; distribute hot meals, clothes and blankets in parks; and collect money to help low-income families pay rent or utility payments.

But it's a rare group that wants to commit to providing a roof over the heads of needy strangers. Bring them into your own space, and then what if they don't want to leave? You'd go from good Samaritan to an unwelcome role of landlord.

There's a plan afoot among several faith-based groups to take on a housing mission, but they would ease the stress by sharing the commitment. Each church would host homeless people for one week every three months under the model that has succeeded in several mainland cities.

It won't be come one, come all. A selected group -- three to five families, no more than 15 people at a time -- will be guests in the houses of God. They would move on through a network of church hosts. About 50 families a year would be helped as a start.

About 20 Honolulu churches have been represented at monthly meetings at Church of the Crossroads, 1212 University Ave. Their next meeting, at 6:30 p.m. March 1, is open to other interested congregations.

Windward-area churches will meet Feb. 22 for their first briefing on the program. The 7 p.m. gathering at Christ Church Uniting Disciples and Presbyterians, at 1300 Kailua Road in Kailua, is also open to prospective partners.

Many churches have a complex of buildings surrounding the sanctuary such as classrooms, offices, kitchen and dining facilities, even housing provided for ministers.

To house the homeless in an existing structure would be cost-effective, said the director of Oahu's only homeless shelter. And bringing needy families into neighborhoods would bring the community problem into plain view.

STAR-BULLETIN / DECEMBER 2004 Dayven Aikau and Oui Keonouchanhy lie inside their tent on the grounds of First United Methodist Church on the corner of Beretania and Victoria streets. They were among the homeless people staying there, with the pastor's permission, while raising money for a home.

"It's a wonderful role for the faith-based community," said Lynn Maunakea, executive director of Institute for Human Services. "Providing shelter and food is a real natural bridge between our missions. I'll be glad to help, and I encourage them to take it on."

Church buildings would become transitional housing, giving low-income families time and resources to get back under a permanent roof of their own.

"If you can give folks a chance to live with no expenses for two to three months, they can save up," said C. Kent Coarsey, a national associate with the Family Promise program. "We try to get them back into some livable housing situation. Getting the first and last month's rent for a deposit is a big effort. We try to hook them up with other resources."

Coarsey said the Family Promise model has succeeded in 109 locations, involving more than 3,000 participating churches and more than 100,000 volunteers. He was executive director of a Colorado network and worked as a national associate in California before returning to Hawaii last year when his wife, the Rev. Amy Wake, was called to be associate pastor at First United Methodist Church.

Maunakea said there is less transitional housing available now than in the past, and "I see part of the solution here." The Catholic church still operates the Maililand apartment complex on the Leeward Coast, but a similar Kalihi facility was closed when Honolulu Community College reclaimed the land near Kapalama Stream.

Families would not linger through the day at their host church under the Family Promise plan, Coarsey said. "During the day, families would go to a day center, and that's where showers would be provided. We would provide the beds; they would move from congregation to congregation."

Coarsey said the project needs at least 15 committed churches to work. It would help about 50 families in a year.

In the nationwide networking effort, about half of the people helped into housing have been children, and most were under 6 years of age, according to the nonprofit agency's Web page, www.familypromise.org.

"People don't choose homelessness as a lifestyle," said Coarsey, "and children absolutely never choose to be homeless.

"The key goal is to get congregations involved."