Gym dandy

The Lighthouse Outreach Center's facility can take 85 people

The last place Joseph Detter thought he would go for shelter was in Waipahu. But when the Kakaako shelter said it was full, Detter hopped a bus in downtown to a new shelter in Waipahu and found himself sleeping in a 500-square-foot gym with only one other homeless man and a family of six.

"Not a lot of people want to come this far out," he said. "I don't mind it. I know that it's safer. There's no one screaming and yelling."

Shelter organizers hope more people will see it the same way.

They say they planned for the "soft opening" to work out glitches and give the Waipahu homeless a chance to move in first. Now organizers are ready for people to fill the shelter.

"I don't think that we will have openings for long," said William Hummel, the social work supervisor at the shelter. "We just opened, and there aren't a lot of folks who know where we are."

The emergency overnight shelter opened Oct. 1 in the Lighthouse Outreach Center's gymnasium at 94-230 Leokane St. and can house 85 people. The shelter, next to Waipahu Shopping Plaza, is operated by River of Life Mission and the Lighthouse Outreach Center.

As the first shelter in Waipahu, it has less than a third of the capacity of the Kakaako Next Step shelter, but it is a step toward helping some of the thousands of homeless on the island.

The Rev. Joe Hunkin Jr., Lighthouse Outreach Center senior pastor, said he has driven the Waipahu area inviting the homeless to the shelter. He estimates there are 120 to 150 homeless living in Waipahu.

"We opened it for this area," Hunkin said. "If they don't come, I can receive anybody."

Secured behind a gate with full-time guards, the shelter is open from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. Residents staying at the shelter eat a nightly meal and are required to receive help from a case management counselor.

The goal of the shelter is to move residents from the shelter to some temporary housing, said Bob Marchant, executive director of the River of Life Mission.

With a budget of $402,000 from the state's homeless stipend program, the Waipahu shelter is the 11th state-funded shelter on Oahu. Shelter officials say the funds, which are for one year, cover $13 per person per night.

"The money is tied into trying to alleviate their worries about their day-to-day existence so they can start to plan for the future and make some positive progress toward that future goal," said Sandy Miyoshi, the homeless programs branch administrator for the Hawaii Public Housing Authority.

Lighthouse Outreach Center provides meals, maintenance and security for the location, while River of Life Mission provides social services and case management to work toward a more independent living situation, Miyoshi said.

"They have the same heart we got. That's why it works so well," said Hunkin. "We're really concerned to help these people get a job and find housing."

Richard Oshiro, Waipahu Neighborhood Board chairman, said he did not know about the shelter opening, but said it could help with homeless people living near Waikele Gulch.

"It's a problem in Waipahu," he said, adding there have been reports of homeless people starting fires near the gulch that endanger private property.

Rental assistance, medical issues, identification and life skills such as budgeting are some of the services shelter case workers provide.

Currently, three Hawaii Pacific University graduate students in social work manage the cases as part of their course work, said William Hummel, a practicum coordinator and instructor at HPU.

Already, caseworkers are working with Marie, who declined to give her last name, and her five children, ages 1 to 20.

She said the shelter gives her the residency she needs to enroll her children in school.

"It'll give me the chance to get them in school," she said. "It's the best thing I can do, and it gives them a safe place to sleep."