Kalaeloa shelter finishing ahead of schedule
By Rob Perez
Advertiser Staff Writer
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The state is speeding up renovations on a transitional shelter for Wai'anae Coast homeless people and expects to have 60 apartments at Kalaeloa ready by the end of the month, roughly two months ahead of schedule.
The shelter will house at least 200 people, mostly coming from beach encampments along the 16-mile stretch from Nanakuli to Ka'ena Point.
Forty units already are available for occupancy, and the first occupants began moving into the former military barracks late last week. Two families prominently featured in The Advertiser's series on the homeless crisis along the coast were among the first to move in.
It was unclear as of yesterday how many families were staying at the Kalaeloa shelter, called Onelau'ena, according to Kaulana Park, the state's coordinator for the homeless. Onelau'ena means "place where all necessities of life are."
The remaining 20 units still are being renovated, and the state expects to finish those by the end of the month. All 60 units should be occupied by year's end, Park said.
The Kalaeloa facility originally was expected to open around the end of the year, but the renovation has gone faster than expected, partly because a delay with a planned emergency shelter in Wai'anae freed more workers for the Kalaeloa project, Park said. State workers have been renovating the three-story building virtually around the clock since late July, he added. Two of the three floors are completed.
The Wai'anae emergency shelter is targeted to open by the end of the year and will have 300 beds.
Park said the Kalaeloa project gives priority to families with children, and the families will have the option of sending their kids to nearby schools, such as Barbers Point Elementary, Kapolei Middle and Kapolei High, or keeping them in their present schools along the coast. Transportation to and from the schools will be arranged for the students, he said.
The Advertiser series examined the surge in homelessness along the coast and detailed the pressures the situation has put on the area's housing, healthcare and school operations.
HOT WATER, COOL AIR
After months on the beach, several shelter residents last night said they were overjoyed to have a roof over their heads, hot water for showers and air-conditioning.
"It's so awesome, it's unreal, it's unbelievable," said Bert Bustamante, who spent 10 months on the beach with his wife, Roxanne, and their nine children before moving into the shelter last week. "I've got a key to success. This is my new world."
Bustamante, whose plight was detailed in The Advertiser series, said he got a $500 donation from a stranger he knows only as Art and a job offer in security from Ko Olina resort as a result of the news coverage.
"My blessings are just falling for me now," he said.
The Bustamantes have three rooms in the shelter. Each has a refrigerator, microwave, sofa, a set of drawers and futon-like beddings. A community bathroom is down the hall, shared by families on one floor.
"This presents a great opportunity for us to get back on our feet," said Roxanne Bustamante. "It's good because we have shelter. My kids are warm. We have hot showers."
Caroline Soaladaob, whose 11-member family also moved into the shelter last week, mentioned the hot water and the air conditioning as major benefits.
"This is my new best friend," she said, motioning to a wall-mounted air conditioner in her room, one of two shared by her husband and their nine kids.
The residents said that about 150 people are living in Onelau'ena now.
One of the biggest adjustments they have to make in being in the shelter is complying with rules about what can and can't be done, the residents said. But after living under the stars for so long, that's no big deal, they said.
GIVING BACK
People housed in Onelau'ena will be expected to contribute to cleaning and security duties and provide other help with the overall shelter operations, plus take life-skills classes to help them get back on their feet, officials said. Wai'anae Community Outreach, a nonprofit group that assists the homeless, is managing the shelter for the state.
HOUSES TO COME
Officials yesterday said the state has approved a loan of up to $2.1 million for a Ma'ili self-help housing project that will allow 80 low-income families, including some from the ranks of the homeless, to purchase houses they help build.
The Hawai'i Housing Finance & Development Corp. approved the loan earlier this month for the 80-home development planned by the Self-Help Housing Corp. of Hawai'i. It marks the first time the state agency has tapped one of its housing funds to partner with a private lender to help a nonprofit purchase land for an affordable housing project. Bank of Hawaii is lending more than $6 million for the project.
Low-income people who qualify will be able to buy a house and the land under it for $208,000 as long as they contribute about 1,800 hours in a year — or 36 hours per week — of labor to help build the homes, according to Claudia Shay, executive director and founder of Self-Help Housing.
Construction on the homes is expected to start in June 2008 and take about a year to complete.
Shay said the 80 families will be selected from roughly 2,000 on the organization's waiting list, with priority given to those with the greatest need.
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WHAT YOU HAD TO SAY The following is a sampling of comments and suggestions posted on The Advertiser's Web site about our series "Homeless on the Wai'anae Coast." HOUSING SPECULATORS Make the connection folks; why does anyone NEED more than one house? Stop being greedy and recognize that when you buy multiple "properties" in Hawai'i, for vacation rentals or speculation, you are contributing to homelessness by removing housing stock from the low end of the spectrum. Posted: Sunday, Oct. 15, 2006 WHAT ABOUT BARBER'S POINT I am not standing on a soap box preaching, but for my 50 years of life, born and raised in Hawai'i (Honolulu), my past 17 years have been on the Mainland because nobody even tried to make Hawai'i home for the native-born people. Look at how huge the homeless problem has become, and like everything else that doesn't matter to the Hawaiian government, they try to put it on the bottom shelf and hide it until it starts to burst at the seams, and it can no longer be hidden. What is wrong with opening the military housing at Barbers Point? No, instead they let it get vandalized when it can be used for the homeless. Posted: Sunday, Oct. 15, 2006 LIMIT BENEFITS So, my suggestion to the government? Like the welfare program, whose benefit limit is five years, do the same for the housing programs that we have! It'll shorten the length of the wait lists and make affordable housing available to those who wait forever and are homeless! And continuously screen the people on the programs – they'll see that they have so much assets and that they don't belong receiving government assistance. Another thing ... QUIT ALLOWING CONTRACTORS TO BUILD CONDOS THAT NO ONE IS EVEN ABLE TO AFFORD AND GOING TO LIVE IN! Those open lots and spaces could be used to build more housing for those who can't afford the rising prices of Hawai'i. It's wasted space and money. Posted: Friday, Oct. 20, 2006 RENT CONTROL It is no wonder that so many families are homeless these days. Most landlords have taken drastic steps to increase the rent on their apartments without taking into consideration their loyal renters' situations or how difficult it is to raise a family in Hawai'i. Is this a GREED trend on the landlords' part, or what? Please tell me it is not inflation: This state's economy is thriving. The state of Hawai'i should study this trend seriously and set a ceiling on rental units in Hawai'i, so that people can find affordable rental units. Posted: Friday, Oct. 20, 2006 THREE IDEAS Creating legislation to slow or freeze housing costs to allow markets to level off is one part. Secondly, to allow for not the minimum wage to go up, but for the "middle-wage" earners' income to go up. I feel that it is the middle-wage earners that do most of the spending anyhow. Lastly ... the federal government seems to think it is necessary to get a COLA (cost of living allowance) when moving employees here to work. Why can't our state see that as well? Consider a COLA to residents. Posted: Monday, Oct. 23, 2006 GET OFF WELFARE I know that there are programs that were created to help people that are in need. I also know that there are those out there that abuse these programs which lead to those needing it to be left homeless. Programs to eventually develop people on welfare into taxpayers should be the goal for the state as well as those collecting. It would give both parties a huge boost! The programs highlighted in the article look promising. Posted: Monday, Oct. 23, 2006 HOMELESS, TAKE ACTION The homeless need to take real, smart, strategic action if they want things done. ... If the homeless people were smart they would relocate themselves and spread out across the Island. Go live where the senators and the representatives live. ... Someone in Kahala might not care about the homeless problem since they don't see that there IS a problem. Take the problem to their town and trust me, we'll see some action. Out of sight, out of mind. Posted: Monday, Oct. 23, 2006 TOO MANY CHILDREN Of course I feel for people who are not making it financially. But how come no one raises an eyebrow when you hear of homeless families with 10 children? Where is the outcry! If you can't pay for your own roof why bring so many children that you can't support? I do not think it's right that taxpayers who are having one or two children because that is all that they can pay for pick up the bill for a family who has 10 children, or 11. ... There should be a public outcry, there should be a new law preventing welfare for more than two children. This is a crime against the children. And it makes me sick that no one in any of these articles brings up this point! Posted: Monday, Oct. 23, 2006
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HOW TO HELP Donations to help the homeless can be made to these agencies: AUW Aloha United Way, 24-hour statewide information and referrals, 211
Catholic Charities Hawaii • Seniors (60 and older) 2745 Pali Highway, 595-0077 250 Vineyard St., 527-4357 Institute for Human Services 546 Ka'a'ahi St., 845-7052 Wai'anae Community Outreach, 87-217 St. John's Road 696-5667
Catholic Charities Hawaii • Maililand Transitional Shelter (family), 696-4885 Hale Kipa Inc., 589-1829 • Transitional Living Program (young men) Holo Loa'a Inc. 41-490 Saddle Road • Weinberg Village Waimanalo (family), 259-6658 Housing Solutions Inc. 2734 S. King St. #100, 973-0050 • Kulaokahua Shelter (elderly), 599-5759 Institute for Human Services Inc., 546 Ka'a'ahi St., 845-7052 • Sumner Street (men), 537-2724 Mental Health Kokua 1221 Kapi'olani Blvd. Suite 345 737-2523 • Safe Haven Emergency & Transitional (singles), 524-7233 Ohana Ola O Kahumana 86-660 Lualualei Homestead Road, 696-4039 •Transitional Shelter (family) Steadfast Housing Development Corp., 677 Ala Moana, Suite 713, 599-6230 • Hale Ulu Pono (singles, mentally ill), 682-4466
Kalihi-Palama Health Center 350 Sumner St. Suite 101, 531-6322 Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, 86-260 Farrington Highway, 696-1586 Wai'anae Community Outreach 87-217 St. John's Roadm 696-5667 Waikiki Health Center, 1640 S. King St., 922-4790
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Reach Rob Perez at rperez@honoluluadvertiser.com.
