The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0589.042 2020-2022 f ccuo C' ill 11 ( MWE + -a t r•- + r t r +r• + 4 ' + r TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF BILL 111 TO: Hawaii County Council FROM: Brandee Menino, CEO,Hope Services Hawaii, Hearing: Inc. Council,3-9-22 at 1:00 Aloha, My name is Brandee Menino and I am CEO of Hope Services Hawaii, which is the largest nonprofit homeless services provider on Hawaii Island. I also serve as co-chair of Community Alliance Partners, the Hawaii Island subsidiary of Bridging the Gap, the neighbor islands homeless services Continuum of Care. Thank you for the opportunity to testify in strong support of Bill 111, which would appropriate at least 75% of the property tax revenue collected from second homes valued over $2 million to programs that address homelessness. Why are so many people experiencing homelessness in Hawaii County? As the CEO of Hawaii Island's largest homeless services provider, I can tell you from experience that the answer lies on two sides of the same coin: 1. lack of access to affordable housing for local residents 2. inadequate support for programs that effectively help people avoid and overcome homelessness. While each of our houseless neighbors has a different story with differing degrees of complexity, the vast majority of the people we serve would either avoid homelessness altogether, or be able to immediately enter shelter and.begin locating housing if the above two problems were addressed with the care and support that our most vulnerable neighbors deserve. While that is easier said than done, the good news is that functionally ending homelessness is within reach. We have evidence showing which programs are recognized nationwide as best practices because they work, and we have homeless service providers who are experienced in delivering them. We know that the programs Hope Services and our partners offer, including diversion, prevention, street outreach, street medicine, rapid rehousing, housing first, rent assistance, and permanent supportive housing, are successful. The legwork is done, and now what we need is adequate funding and support. To illustrate where these programs are successful and where adequate funding could help overcome challenges, I am attaching a copy of Hawai'i County's most recent metrics and service demographics. I'd like to direct your attention to a few data points: r Page 1 of 4 ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE BOARD OF DIRECTORS EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP 357 Waianuenue Avenue President Secretary Directors Chief Executive Offic ga Hilo,HI 96720 Dean Au Patrick Hurney Gwen DeCoito - ndee Menino I . phone:(8o8)935-3050 Vice-President Treasurer David Kurohara t M,- ", fax:(808)935-3794 Peter Hoffmann Charlene Iboshi Anne Harpham Pef. To: Rev.Robert Stark,SSS Michael Stimson Ref° ate t' 2022 i i • Total people served: During our last fiscal year, 1,515 people received homeless services from providers on our island who utilize the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). If you look at the demographics on the bottom of the page you will see that the majority are long- term Local residents, and only 4% are newcomers to Hawai`i.* • Successfully remained housed for 2+ years: We check up on people for two years after placing them into permanent housing. In Hawaii County, 88% of them remain housed, and only 12% return to homelessness. This means our recidivism rate is 40% better than the j S averate, where 20% return to homelessness within two years. This is an indicator that our approach works, and that it's a long term solution, not a band-aid. • Exit rate to permanent housing and average length of stay in emergency shelter: These show, respectively, the percentage of houseless people our providers served who moved into permanent housing, and how many days, on average, participants spent in shelter. This is an area of challenge. If you look at previous years, you will see that people were moving into housing at higher rates, and staying in shelter for shorter periods of time. This change is largely due to the influx of out-of-state and speculation real estate buyers driving up the cost of housing, and the rapid proliferation of Housing Voucher Disrimination, where landlords refuse to consider tenants based on the fact that they need section 8 or a similar voucher to afford housing. By funding affordable housing reserved for our neighbors with the lowest incomes, you would help us place more people into permanent housing faster. Preliminary data from this year's point in time count show that 699 people on our island remain unhoused, and we know that many more are doubled up or on the verge of losing their homes. This is where we need your help. We have the evidence to show our programs work, but we won't be able to help all our neighbors who need it without sufficient support. By allocating funding to evidence-based programs that offer effective and long-term solutions to homelessness, you can help more of our residents avoid and overcome homelessness. With federal COVID money drying up in September, and state funding that is unreliable and inadequate, we need our county to step up and make sure that programs like ours are well resourced, so that we can continue to move the needle on homelessness. Please join me in supporting Bill 111. Mahalo, t Brandee Menino CEO, Hope Services Hawaii Page 2 of 4 *Partly due to sensationalist reporting, and partly due to the different dersrographics ofpeople wlio arae visibly houseless, there is an unfortunate perception that a sivable proportion of Hawaii`s houseless Population is made up of recent arrivals front out of state. This simply is not the case, and a demographic survey of visible urban areas would yield significantly different results than a survey of the entire island. Some have asked. "If only 4% are newcomers, why are so many of the people 1 see living in downtown Hilo and Kona new arrivals?" Simply part, newcomers do not know where else to go. If You moved to an un amiliar state and suddenly lost everything, where would you go? You wouldn't have a family to stay with. You wouldn't have friends who'd let you camp in their-yard. You wouldn't know which areas were safe, and which to avoid You wouldn't know where to look.for a community of others who'd let you join their camp. You wouldn't know which empty buildings are safe to squat in. You might ,figure you'd have the best chance at finding help by going to the places with lots of activith. You'd probably also feel safer somewhere that's well lit and has lots of people around. On the other hand, if you were born and raised in the place you became homeless, you'd likely know of better places to go than downtown. Most of the people we serve do not live in highly visible public places. If you have been on an outreach mission, you know that most of the unsheltered people our team visits are out of'sight— behind tall grass, off of trails, under bridges places that you would only find if you knew where to look. Page 3 of 4 HOUSELESSNE!'*34'S ON HAWAVI ISLAND THE METRICS THAT MATTER, YEAR BY YEAR *STATE FISCAL YEAR (JULY I TO JUNE 30) 2021 2020 2019 TOTAL PEOPLE L515 1452 1324 SERVED I PEOPLE WHO MOVED 478 605 715 INTO PERMANENT HOUSING IT RATE TO 61% PERMANENT HOUSING AVERAGE LENGTH OF STAY IN EMERGENCY 98 89 91 SHELTER (DAYS) SUCCESSFULLY REMAINED HOUSED 88% 77% 80% FOR 2+ YEARS THE IMPACT OF HOUSELESSNESS HAWAI'I COUNTY AT A GLANCE 4% 9% HAVE LIVED IN HAVE LIVED IN ARE U.S. VETERANS ARE K0PUNA HAWAI'I 20+YEARS HAWAI'I UNDER I YEAR 31% 42% 68% 207 ARE CHILDREN OF KEIKI ARE 5 OF FAMILIES ARE LED FAMILIES HAVE YEARS AND UNDER BY A SINGLE MOTHER MINOR CHILDREN Sources:Bridging the Gap:The FOR MORE INFORMATION , CONTACT: Continuum of Care for Hassail, PAUL NORMANN, CHAIRto y Maui and Canal Counties,and COMMUNITY ALLIANCE PARTNERS Homeless Management Info anon System PAUL ia N EIGHBORHOODPLACE ORG communityalliancepartners.org Page 4 of 4