COM 0591.000 2010-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Alahou Clean & Sober Clean and Sober Housing Program Program Highlights (from Fiscal Year 2010-11): Background In 2006 Sandra McCoy became the Kona Residential Manager for Po'ailani, Inc., a Honolulu-based non-profit human services agency providing housing for individuals having a dual-diagnosis of chemical addiction coupled with mental illness. Until August of 2009, Po'ailani's Kona facility consisted of 19 apartments in a three-building complex located on Alahou Street in Kailua-Kona. The facility was leased from a local entrepreneur and is located on Alahou Street in Kona's "Hamburger Hill" neighborhood. Funded by a combination of rental income and state dollars, Po'ailani provided housing for up to 70 participants and employed 22 program staff. In August 2009, reductions in state funding forced Po'ailani to terminate the lease on two of the three buildings, retaining only seven apartments in the remaining building. In negotiations, the owner agreed to maintain a "clean-and-sober" requirement for tenants of the non-Po'ailani apartments, thereby helping to maintain a stable and less risky environment for program participants. In return for that agreement, Po'ailani agreed to act as Resident Manager for all three buildings at no cost to the owner. Po'ailani continued to operate with only nine program participants. The majority of the residents in the other buildings were previous Po'ailani consumers. These measures proved unsuccessful, however, and Po'ailani ultimately closed its Kona operation in April 2010. All program assets were returned to Oahu for use by Po'ailani's Honolulu program. At the time of the program closure, many of the property tenants were long-term Po'ailani program participants and had been clean and sober for two-to-three years. When the closure was announced, a group of the tenants approached Ms. McCoy asking for assistance in starting up a new non-profit agency called Alahou Clean & Sober. Their intent was to continue to maintain the facility as drug and alcohol-free housing where they could continue to work on their individual recoveries. Given their personal experience, not maintaining the environment in that state would result in many of them returning to life on the street and an addictive lifestyle. Fiscal Year 2010-11 was Alahou's first complete year of operation. During that time: 1) Residential services were provided to 151 unduplicated individuals. Borrowing the metric of "bed- night" from the Hospitality industry, meaning one occupied bed for one night, Alahou provided 16,331 bed-nights to program participants. 2) The average length of residency during the period was 108 days. Of the 110 individuals leaving the Alahou program during the period, 21 (19%) had obtained employment and were able to afford to move into private housing. 3) On May 12, 2011, Alahou was advised by the Internal Revenue Service that it had been certified as exempt from Federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, effective as of July 22, 2010. 4) On June 1, 2011, Alahou was advised that it had been accepted as a United Way partner Agency by Hawaii Island United Way and was eligible to receive $25,000 in grant funding during FY2012 and again during FY2013. NONPROFIT GRANT APPLICATION FISCAL YEAR 2012-13 Page 4 of 8