Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 12, 1 Kekemapa 2006 — SEEKING SHELTER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SEEKING SHELTER

The struggle to provide relief for Leeward 0'ahu's homeless

By Sterling Kini Wnng Publicatinns Editnr The longstanding homelessness problem on 0'ahu's Leeward coast reached a critical point earlier this year, when the number of tent cities located on beaches between Kahe Point and Mākua Valley ballooned to staggering levels. Estimates at the time placed the population of homeless on the economically ehallenged coast at around 1,500, with Native Hawaiians possibly accounting for up to 70 percent. Over the last several months, however, efforts by a variety of

agencies have made a start in helping to alleviate the problem. In late October, the state opened two floors of a three-story emergency shelter located in a converted military building at Kalaeloa. When it's completed, the shelter, named Onelauena, is expected to provide temporary housing for some 200 people in 61 apartment-style units where residents ean stay for up to two years. Onelauena residents are expected to eventually transition into puhlie housing or affordable private rentals. In addition to the Kalaeloa shelter, the state has broken ground on a new temporary emergency shelter at the

Wai'anae Civic Center that will be fitted with 300 beds, and plans are in the works to open several more facilities. In November, the city identified a dozen sites across O'ahu that could be developed into low-ineome or transitional housing. OHA has also made a eontribution, committing $1 million toward the drive to find solutions. Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) official Kaulana Park, who is serving as the state's homeless coordinator, said the state is considering using OHA's funds to build a hybrid emergency transitional shelter that would serve up to 75 people at a time.

Recognizing that Native Hawaiians represent a large number of the homeless populahon on the Wai'anae Coast, ali'i trusts and Hawaiian organizations, including Kamehameha Schools, the Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center, Alu Like and DHHL, have also pledged their support to help resolve the issue. Unfortunate situations Many who are close to the issue attribute the swelling number of homeless to the high cost of living and laek of affordable housing in Hawai'i. "A lot of these people are what we eall 'new homeless,"' said Park. "They were placed in unfor-

tunate situations, like the loss of a job or their rent got raised - sad things that could happen to you or me. Some have drug or aleohol problems, but many of them just want a ehanee." lonah Galdeira, 22, is a case in point, having eome to O'ahu from Hawai'i Island with his girlfriend and their two children to find work. They stayed for a while with relatives living on Hawaiian Home Lands in Wai'anae Valley, but left after problems arose. "It was a spur-of-the-moment decision," he said. "I didn't want to burden my relatives with my family. I'm an adult now, and I have to try and make it on my own." Eventually, Galdeira and his

family made their way to an enclave of about 40 tents, shaded by trees in Nānākuli Beach Park. While their living quarters were just a modest canopy tent connected to a dome tent, they were able to use the ineome from Ionah's hazardous-materials removal job to furnish their eamp with amenities like a television, stereo and DVD player. "We don't live as bad as it looks," Galdeira said while they were living at the park. "But this isn't where I want to be. In my heart, my kids should have a house, with their own rooms, and I want to pay for them to go to college." After about six months of liv-

ing on the heaeh, the family was eventually able to move into a rental in 'Ewa with the help of a state program that provides money to offset the cost of rent. By the end of November, all but a handful of the other people who had been living at the Nānākuli park were also gone, with most of them moving into the new Kalaeloa shelter. Those few who stayed behind relocated their camps to a nearby area to make room for a eanoe hālau that the city plans to build in the park. Competing forces The relocation of people from Nānākuli highlights the clash of two competing forces found not

only on the Wai'anae Coast, but statewide. On one side is the community's realization that a number of social factors have caused a marked increase in the state's homeless population, many of whom tend to gravitate toward the oeean. On the other hand, some area residents, while often feeling compassion for the homeless, bemoan the loss of their beaches. These simmering issues were brought to a boil after the city forced 200 homeless people out of Ala Moana Beach Park. The city, whieh had also evicted transients from beaches and parks earlier in the year, conducted subsequent homeless sweeps

along the Leeward Coast. In response, government agencies and numerous charitable, eommunity and faith-based organizations stepped in to try to provide relief to people displaced from those areas, including the opening of the state's Next Step emergency shelter in Kaka'ako and the Onelauena structure in Kalaeloa. In the upcoming legislative session, Gov. Linda Lingle is expected to reintroduce several bills that failed last year, along with new legislation, to address the state's homeless crisis. The Legislature will probably re-examine two of Lingle's bills that would increase the amount of money the state ean use to develop more afford-

able rental units, and expand and improve the state's rent subsidy program. State homelessness coordinator Park said the state's plan is comprehensive, with a goal of not just placing displaced people in emergency shelters, but guiding them through a series of facilities that will prepare them for pennanent housing. "If we just provide them with shelter and food, and then let them leave, that doesn't help solve the problem," he said. "They will just return to the beaches and parks, and instead of helping them, we're catering to them. We want them to get them motivated and help them move on." S

Clockwise from left: About 40 tents could be found in u homeless villuge in Nanakuli Beucb Park in October, but tbe park bus since been cleured; the humhle living area of Jonub Galdeira und bis fumily included such umenities us u television und DVD pluyer; Gūldeiru ond bis son; o group of pork dwellers share o lighter moment by tbe beocb. - Photos: Derek Pemr