In a community squeezed by a stark shortage of affordable housing and a growing number of homeless, any effort to ease the crunch should be welcome.

One of those efforts, an agreement between the Hawaii Coalition of Christian Churches and the state Housing and Community Development Corp. to develop a 72-unit housing project in Wai'anae, makes sense.

The project, which would replace and expand on an older, low-income housing community scheduled for demolition, will include accommodations for emergency shelter, transitional housing and affordable-housing units. Focusing on various stages of need is indeed a smart approach.

While this is a welcome project, a few issues will have to be carefully resolved.

First, the project would be on ceded lands. The challenge here will be ensuring that the project does not become entangled in ongoing discussions between the state and Office of Hawaiian Affairs over use of and income from ceded lands.

That should not be a problem. Little income will be derived from the project — it's a nonprofit operation designed to help those who otherwise have no place to live.

And there likely will be considerable overlap between those making use of this development in Wai'anae and those OHA is supposed to serve.

A second issue is concern about a religious group running what is in effect public housing. The state has strong rules against discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religious orientation and sexual orientation.

Not all private groups, including some church groups, are comfortable with such restrictions. But it is imperative that this project follow the rules.

It's clear here that the goal of the Coalition of Christian Churches is not to proselytize; rather it is to do good work for a needy segment of the population.

And that's a compelling reason for this project to go forward.