Over the past five years, the state, city and nonprofits have spent tens of millions of dollars to address homelessness in the Islands, considered one of the greatest social crises ever in Hawai'i.

But little attention and few resources have gone to what experts say could be a much bigger and more complex problem — helping those living in unsafe, unhealthy or overcrowded substandard rental housing.

Now, advocates are hoping the shocking case of a Kalihi home where 50 people shared two bathrooms and slept largely in makeshift additions built with poles, plywood and tarps — until the collapse of one of those structures last Sunday — brings more attention to the conditions some low-income renters are enduring.

"It's a miracle no one was injured" in the collapse, said Doran Porter, executive director of the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance, which serves the homeless. "I don't think we'll be so lucky next time."

Bernadette I. Yockman, 58, was one of the tenants left homeless after the partial collapse of the house on Gulick Avenue. Her daughter, 34, and 3-year-old grandson also lived in the home. The three are searching for a new place, but said they have little hope of finding a rental before the American Red Cross shuts down its shelter tomorrow that was set up for residents of the home.

"I wouldn't want to go through this again," Yockman said.

Advocates have long raised concerns about how the high price of housing in the Islands is putting low-income families in tough spots, forcing them to squeeze into small apartments or put up with unsafe conditions because the alternative is homelessness. But calls to address substandard housing have largely been drowned out by the chorus of voices pushing to relieve the homeless situation, which is much more visible and has become more of a public concern as the homeless set up in parks, beaches and bus stops from Wai'anae to Waikiki.

All the increased attention has helped the homeless situation considerably and, advocates say, potentially trickled to those in substandard housing conditions by adding to the affordable housing inventory. Over the last several years, hundreds of homeless people on O'ahu have gone into newly built transitional shelters, largely on the Leeward Coast, and eventually into long-term housing. The affordable housing inventory has also grown, though not at the pace advocates say is needed and not fast enough to clear out homeless shelters on O'ahu.

The spiraling economy is threatening to erode some of the progress made over the past half-decade, by tipping some families living paycheck-to-paycheck over the edge into losing their homes. It also could force nonprofits to cut back as community donations and government appropriations drop. Meanwhile, housing prices in Hawai'i remain stubbornly high even with the slowing economy.

SUBSTANDARD HOUSING

All that is bad news for renters in substandard housing, many advocates say, since dwindling nonprofit resources and stagnant rents mean many in overcrowded or unsafe housing conditions will just have to stay put.

Porter, of the homeless alliance, and other advocates said the substandard housing issue is a significant one — and one that is only likely to worsen as low-income families get squeezed tighter in a slowing economy.

No one can say, though, just how many people in the Islands live in substandard conditions.

Local and federal programs don't gather data on the issue, though Hawai'i has long topped the nation in one national indicator of overcrowding gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau — whether households have more than one person per room. In 2007, about 8.7 percent of occupied housing units in the Islands had more than one person in a room, according to the recently-released figures. California came in second at 7.7 percent.

The national average was 2.9 percent.

Advocates also point to "hidden homeless" estimates as one way to figure out how people are crowding in together. A 2006 state report, conducted by SMS Research, showed about 96,700 people statewide were "hidden homeless" — a term that includes families that double up because they can't afford a place of their own.

At the Gulick Avenue home, which has four legal bedrooms, several families with young children and teenagers crowded into single rooms. There were also couples, though the majority of residents were single.

Residents paid between $250 to $750 a month for the rooms.

Many said they had looked for better accommodations, but couldn't find them.

Jory Watland, a longtime affordable housing advocate and chairman of the Kalihi Valley Neighborhood Board, said the situation is appalling and sheds light on how renters are being forced to get by in Hawai'i's pricey housing market. In 2007, for the third straight year, Hawai'i had the highest rents in the nation, recently released Census figures show. The median rent in Hawai'i ($1,194), was followed by California ($1,078).

Watland added that the Gulick Avenue home and its illegal structures should have been torn down years ago.

"I wouldn't keep an animal in something so poorly built," Watland said.

Watland and others say beyond more funding for programs to address substandard housing, which they acknowledged would be tough to get in a bad economy, there are other steps the city could take to alleviate the problem.

For one, they say, the collapse of the Kalihi residence points to the need for tougher penalties, fines and oversight for substandard properties, especially since neighbors complained about the illegal structures at the Gulick Avenue home since as far back as early 2005.

ANOTHER LOOK

Several City Council members have already expressed interest in taking a new look at the city ordinance governing penalties for building code violators in the wake of the Kalihi collapse. But some also said that there are other issues at play, such as short-staffing at the city Department of Planning and Permitting, whose inspectors issue violations and enforce building codes.

"DPP is understaffed, overworked and ineffective," said Councilman Charles Djou, adding that enforcement measures need more "teeth" so landowners comply more quickly. Djou pointed out that the Kalihi case is especially difficult because the property manager, Daniel Cunningham, until recently was not responding to fines or agreeing to city mandates to take down illegal structures as high as four stories on the property.

When the residence partially collapsed, the property had accrued some $53,000 in fines for the structures.

"Let's not get away from the fact that the bad guy in all this is Mr. Cunningham," Djou said.

At the time of the collapse, the city says, Cunningham was actually in the process of removing some of the makeshift additions. Ironically, it is that dismantling that some tenants of the home say may have contributed to the collapse by making portions of attached illegal structures unsteady. Heavy rains apparently worsened the situation, since some metal poles holding up the structures were secured in mud in a streambed below the house.

The city has said it tried hard to get the house in compliance.

Questions to the city about whether any changes will be made in the wake of the incident were not answered.

DPP director Henry Eng said the department has only 13 housing code inspectors, who respond to everything from complaints about sidewalk usage to building code violations to litter on properties and vacant lot overgrowth. The small number of inspectors does limit the enforcement actions DPP can take, Eng said in an e-mail.

ASSESSING THE CASE

Councilman Romy Cachola, who represents the area where the home is, said he believes the permitting office needs to evaluate the case to see what could have been done differently. But he added that the laws on the books are good ones, and when enforced right should be enough to spur landlords to follow the rules.

"I believe the current law is enough," he said.

Advocates contend the city could also address substandard housing by beefing up the city planning and permitting department so that it can not only respond to complaints about illegal structures being built or rented out, but search out violations and conduct spot inspections to enforce substandard housing rules.

Other large cities have such set-ups to address housing concerns, advocates pointed out.

On O'ahu, there are fines (up to $1,000) and penalties for properties considered substandard.

Substandard housing includes dwellings with inadequate weather protection or structural hazards.

But the city often only responds to substandard housing issues after complaints.

Drew Astolfi, the lead organizer for Faith Action for Community Equity, said the Gulick Avenue case also highlights the need for a streamlined process of evaluating housing concerns on the island. He said if the city had a housing department — as it once did — it could have coordinated a quicker response to problems at the Kalihi home. The DPP currently takes housing complaints about building code violations, but Astolfi said they have other priorities, from issuing building permits to responding to complaints about illegal vacation rentals.

He added the case should be the catalyst for a major overhaul of how the city handles substandard housing.

"I think what's going on is nobody is really in charge" of the problem.

The city maintains it did everything possible to resolve the situation on Gulick Avenue.

Bill Brennan, city spokesman, said in an e-mail that the property first came to the city's attention in March 2005. Between 2003 and 2006, there were several violations issued for litter, illegal occupants, illegal tents and other issues. In October 2005, the city issued a notice of order for illegal structures on the property, which triggered daily fines. Despite several demand letters, the situation was not resolved before the collapse.

The city is now seeking to foreclose on the property to recoup its fines.

Also, the city has blocked off access to the four-bedroom home because it is unsafe.

The "Notice of Unsafe Building" is an "extraordinary measure," Brennan said, "because it removes private owners from their property and this measure basically places the initial burden of clean-up on the city taxpayer."

Brennan noted in the last 25 years, DPP has "considered this course of action about five times."

Other agencies also raised concerns about the property.

In March 2007, the Honolulu Fire Department sent a letter to DPP recommending that the property be addressed.

The state Health Department also sent a letter in April 2008 raising concerns about wastewater violations, including the alleged discharge of urine into the stream behind the property. The letter was sent to Cunningham, and the health department also notified the city about the building code violations at the home.

ATTORNEY'S COMMENTS

Chris Dias, attorney for about half of the tenants who lived in the home, said he believes Cunningham and the property owners acted negligently, but also will investigate the city's actions in the case.

Dias said tenants have told him that in the weeks before the collapse there were actually as many as 100 people living in the house. The occupancy number dwindled as Cunningham took down portions of the home that were in violation.

Meanwhile, the owners of the home say they did not know what Cunningham was doing on the property.

George Jenkins, one of the owners listed on property records, said he no longer owns a stake in the home and declined further comment.

Grace Santos, another owner, said she and her sister, Loida Santos, also sold their stakes to Cunningham.

But she said Cunningham never signed the paperwork to own the home, which is why property records list them as the owners. "He didn't want to sign ownership," Grace Santos said of Cunningham. Santos declined to say how much she sold the home for or elaborate why the deal wasn't rescinded if the deed didn't change hands.

Meanwhile, Cunningham, a former mayoral candidate, says he built the structures as a community service to house "street people." "I'm willing to take all the responsibility" for the illegal structures, he said in an interview this week, in which he also alleged the tenants caused the collapse by taking apart the structures themselves.