On Tuesday, service providers from more than a half-dozen private agencies will fan out across the Nani Kai section of Ulehawa Beach Park and nearby Surfers Beach to assist approximately 120 tent dwellers in finding someplace else to live.

The action follows the city's Dec. 26 announcement that the two coastal areas would be shut down for a week beginning Feb. 10, and all tent dwellers there would be permanently evicted.

When the beach park reopens at 3 p.m. Feb. 15 it will be closed to the public from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. The cleanup will be the first along the coastline since a similar, successful operation at the homeless encampment at Ma'ili Beach Park in March 2007.

But at that time there were two recently opened area emergency shelters where the homeless families could go. This time, service providers say those shelters are full and the best they can do is put the homeless on waiting lists and advise them of their options.

"Simply put, what we want to do is help people," said Kia'i Lee, outreach coordinator for Partners in Development Foundation, a free mobile preschool helping homeless tent dwellers on the Wai'anae Coast, which will be part of Tuesday's effort.

"Unfortunately, right now there is no adequate shelter space," said Sophina Placencia, executive director of the Wai'anae Community Outreach, which operates the Onelaueana emergency homeless shelter at Kalaeloa.

"So the service fair on Tuesday is like a good-faith initiative so that when space does open up they (the homeless) won't need to go through the intake process later — it's kind of like fast-tracking them," she said.

The hope is that at least some Nani Kai and Surfers Beach residents will be able to move in with relatives or friends, at least temporarily. But until two additional state-funded shelters become operational in June, Placencia said, the only realistic option for the evicted homeless will be to migrate to another occupied beach park.

The situation highlights the gap between the state's ability to provide enough shelter space and the city's effort to reclaim beaches dominated by homeless folks on the Wai'anae Coast.

Debbie Kim Morikawa, director of the city's Department of Community Services, said the community has made it clear that they want beach parks available for use by everyone.

"The city has been placed in a very difficult situation and we are trying to be as sensitive as possible to everyone involved," Morikawa said.

"The Department of Community Services, the Honolulu Police Department and the Department of Parks & Recreation have made every effort to work with the local service providers to minimize the trauma to those who have been residing in our parks.

"While we hope that those individuals at Ulehawa will take advantage of the services that will be offered on Tuesday, we are also hoping that those at other beach parks will recognize the importance of planning ahead and getting linked up with services or signed up on a shelter wait list now, rather than waiting until a notice of a park makeover is announced."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.