HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN GOREDC 2022/09/20 2020-2022 Committee on Governmental Operations,
Relations, and Economic Development
32nd Session
West Hawaii Civic Center
74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A
Kailua-Kona, Hawai i
September 20, 2022
CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Governmental Operations, Relations,
ORDER: and Economic Development was called to order at 2:02 p.m., in the Council
Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Acting Chair.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Vice Chair
Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member
Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member
Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member
Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member
Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member (via videoconference from Hilo)
Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member
Absent& Excused: Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair
Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member
STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items.
PUBLIC ON
AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when
called by the Chair:
James Levi Makaio: Comm. 986, comment.
Regina Weller: Comm. 986, comment.
(representing 808 Homeless Task Force)
Dwight Vicente: Comm. 986, comment.
Matthias Kusch: Comm. 986, comment.
Philomena Scherling: Comm. 986, comment.
Christy Lungo: Comm. 986, comment.
Cherie Griffore: Comm. 986, comment.
GOREDC-32 September 20,2022
COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
CATIONS: Communications.
Comm. 986: PRESENTATION BY THE OFFICE OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT REGARDING THE STRATEGIC ROADMAP FOR
HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING REQUESTED BY RESOLUTION NO. 442-22
From Housing Administrator Susan K. Kunz, dated September 12, 2022.
Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to close file on Comm. 986.
Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
(Note: Comm. 986.1, from Housing Administrator Susan K. Kunz dated
September 16, 2022,transmitting a PowerPoint presentation, was
circulated.)
ACT. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: If I could please call forward our Housing
Administrator Susan Kunz. Thank you for filing this communication and
presentation with us. If you don't mind, introducing yourself for the record,
members of the team that are joining you. And if I'm correct in the
pronunciation, we have a consultant that developed the Strategic Roadmap, Iain
De Jong on Zoom, to lead us through the presentation. Administrator, you have
the floor.
(Note: At this time, Housing Administrator Susan Kunz and Community
Engagement Division Manager/Homeless Coordinator Sharon Hirota
came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
MS. KUNZ: Good afternoon. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I'm
very excited to be here today to present the County of Hawai`i's Strategic
Roadmap on Homelessness. I really want to thank Council Member Chung, for
introducing this bill and this Council for supporting it. This is a huge investment
that we're making in this community and even trusted the Office of Housing
with administering the coming up with a plan. So I take it, you know,this job
very seriously.
So, before I go any further, I do want to introduce my staff, who has obviously
done a tremendous job in coordinating all of this, but Sharon Hirota is here. She
is the Division Manager for our Community Engagement Division and leads
homeless coordination. And Dennis Kauka, Jr., who recently joined our office,
but has played an integral role in the product that you're going to be seeing
today. We also, as Vice Chair Kierkiewicz mentioned, we have our Consultant
and partner, Iain De Jong on Zoom today. And he will, actually, be doing most
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of the presentation. But before I turn it over to him, I just want to make a few
comments.
You know, as we embarked on this, it was really important to the Office of
Housing, to myself and to my staff, that we made sure that the priorities that
we're presenting in this strategic plan was really a community-driven effort. We
wanted to design a process that insured that we would hear the voices of the
community and take into consideration the concerns and their input on what they
think would be the most powerful way of addressing homelessness. And so, that
is what you're going to be seeing today.
We wanted to make sure that we had the proper stakeholders at the table. So we
engaged with our nonprofit vendors, the people who are on the frontline
everyday helping us to address homelessness. We wanted to hear from people
who have lived experience. That was really important; also, making sure that
our business leaders, partners were at the table;philanthropists, landowners,
developers, and representatives from County departments that also help us to
address homelessness on a regular basis.
So over the course of about three or four weeks, we convened meetings, focus
groups, with these stakeholders, and through a series of questions, gathered
information from them on what they thought would be meaningful and what we
needed to do in order to address homelessness. These focus groups culminated
in a one-day strategic planning event. We did this on August 12''. And we
outreached to about 156 individuals in the community. We had about 115 people
actually participating. So, I really want to thank our community members who
came to the table and engaged with us. We wouldn't have been able to do this
without them.
Again, you know, these priorities are coming directly from the community. It
was a grassroots outreach effort. We heard from those who are the closest to the
work and who can help us identify solutions, right,to end homelessness.
The next steps for us is going to be putting together an RFP (Request for
Proposal)process. We'll probably be working on that over the next month or so
and developing criteria for ranking and rating applications that are coming in.
We're going to make this public so that everyone is on the same page about how
we're going to go about selecting projects for this fund.
I am hoping that we will be able to award contracts at the beginning part of next
year, so maybe January or February at the very latest, while knowing that we're
going to have another round of funding coming down the pipeline in the new
fiscal year. So it's really important that we stay on this timeline.
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So again, thanking the community for their engagement and all of you for your
support. With that, I want to introduce Iain De Jong, who is our partner and our
consultant in this work. There he is. You know, Iain has a couple of decades of
experience in this field. He's a recognized industry leader for his work on
assessment and reorganizing shelters and street outreach programs to become
housing focused, is what his charge has been.
You know, I met Iain about seven years ago when I attended one of his one-week
sessions. It was a strategic leadership session on homelessness. So many great
takeaways that I carry with me today. But the one that I want to share with you
today is my learning and understanding that there's a very big difference
between managing homeless and ending homelessness.
So, as you are listening to the strategic plan today and listening to the initiatives,
I want you to think about each initiative and how it is either helping us—and
both are important, right? We do a lot of work managing homelessness. And we
have to continue to do this until we can have a system in place that actually helps
us to end it, right? So looking at the strategic plan, listening to the initiatives,
and really thinking about what is managing homeless, and what are those
initiatives that are helping us to structure a program for this community that's
going to help us to make homelessness, homeless, rare, brief, and nonrecurring.
And that should be our goal. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Iain.
Thank you very much.
(Note: At this time, OrgCode Consulting President and Chief Executive
Officer Iain De Jong came forward to address the members of the
Committee.)
MR. DE JONG: Thank you for the introduction. Good afternoon members of
Council, Office of Housing and Community Development staff, and members of
the public who are joining in the session today. As mentioned, my name is
Iain De Jong, I'm the President and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of
OrgCode Consulting. Our work takes us throughout the United States, Canada,
Australia, and even parts of Europe, trying to assist organizations and
communities in responding effectively to homelessness using the evidence-based
practices that are supported by the community. It would be my pleasure to walk
you through the presentation on the process that we used to develop the Strategic
Roadmap with the community, and to highlight the end results that we've gained
from that work that was done with a broad range of community stakeholders.
(Note: At this time, Mr. De Jong provided a PowerPoint presentation to
the members of the Committee. For viewing of subject presentation, see
the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office, or
navigate to the Council's video archives from the County's homepage at
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www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a
part of the record, see Comm. 986.1.)
MR. DE JONG: In closing, I would first like to say thank you to the community
for allowing me to facilitate for you. Thank you to the Office of Housing and
Community Development for reaching out in continuing our partnership and the
work that we do. And to all members of the public and to you, members of
Council, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak to the Strategic
Roadmap today and walk you through. And with that, I will stop sharing my
screen, and I will be quiet unless there are questions.
ACT. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. De Jong. Administrator Kunz,
anything else to add? Okay. Going to open it up for questions and comments
from my colleagues. Who'd like to start us off? Mr. Chung.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, Susan, what was the name of that gentleman who was
speaking?
MS. KUNZ: Iain.
MR. CHUNG: Oh, Iain. Okay, you know, I don't want my comments or
questions to be taken in a negative way, right, but this is just how I look at things
whenever we have consultants on board. So boilerplate kind of questions. How
was this—is it a consultant or just a facilitator?
MS. KUNZ: He's a consultant.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. How much was the contract for this?
MS. KUNZ: I'm sorry?
MR. CHUNG: What was the contract amount?
MS. KUNZ: Under $10,000. I don't know the amount exactly.
MR. CHUNG: Oh, small amount, yeah. And then, so they prepared all of this?
MS. KUNZ: Yes.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. And their job was basically to facilitate the discussion?
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MS. KUNZ: Yes.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. We weren't able toI mean, no offense to Iain, right, this
organization because $10,000 is really a small amount.
MS. KUNZ: You know, there's feedback from this laptop that's coming back,
so I'm having a hard time hearing you. Is there is a way to mute this or quiet
this?
MR. CHUNG: I mean, are they going to be providing ongoing services or it's a
one-time deal?
MS. KUNZ: He's a partner with the Office of Housing, and he's going to be
with us through the delivery of this program.
MR. CHUNG: For $10,000?
MS. KUNZ: Is that a good deal or not?
MR. CHUNG: For $10,000, yeah, I mean, right? But is that the contract
amount?
MS. KUNZ: I'm going to let Sharon explain the terms of the contract.
MS. HIROTA: Good afternoon, Sharon Hirota, County of Hawaii Office of
Housing. So the details of the contract initially was to help the Office of
Housing and Community Development to facilitate and help us develop the
results of what you see today, which is the Strategic Roadmap. So yes, once this
is done and the Strategic Roadmap is moved to final, then the work is completed.
MR. CHUNG: For $10,000? Oh, it's terrific then, but no more than that right?
MS. HIROTA: Right. It's less then. I just don't have the exact number.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. But then, you know, I was looking at their website, and
they said that, you know, well maybe all they're doing is facilitating. But it also
said that they don't tell you what you want to hear, you know. So, was that part
of their job, to give input or just to facilitate discussion among the identified
stakeholders?
MS. HIROTA: So if I can speak? I would like to turn it over to Iain, so that he
can help you walk through what the process was. So we brought Iain on board;
we defined the scope of work given the timeline to present to provide to us the
Strategic Roadmap so that we could present it to the Council by the end of
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September, and from there worked in partnership to develop what this would
look like. So, I'll turn it over to Iain so he can walk you through the process.
MR. CHUNG: And don't get me wrong, $10,000 for facilitating and preparing,
you know, these presentations, that's a drop in the bucket, really, okay? As long
it's just $10,000. If the scope is more, then certainly we'd like to know, right?
But anyway, yeah.
MS. HIROTA: Iain.
MR. DE JONG: Thank you for the opportunity. So the total contract value is
$8,600.
MR. CHUNG: Less than $10,000.
MR. DE JONG: Less than $10,000. That includes travel costs. We originally
were looking at doing this at a time that I was going to be on the island. And I
did have to come back for a separate visit. That's included. No additional
charges for that. That included the preparation of the methodology, the
facilitating of the focus groups; the analysis of all the results that came out of the
focus groups. The preparation of the best and promising practices for the
audience to assemble on August 12'', as well as the facilitation of the event on
August 12''.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. So, I'm satisfied that in that regard, we got a great bang
for our buck, okay. Now, with regard to the—you know, I was really listening
with interest to Mr. James Makaio's testimony because it's not too often that we
get to hear from homeless individuals, right, on the ground. And then, you
know, I haven't seen that guy for about five years. I didn't even recognize him,
right? I guess he lives over here now. What he said, and of course, he didn't get
a full opportunity to, you know, voice all of his ideas, concerns, and thoughts,
but it kind of goes countered to what we've been told, particularly, about people
coming from the mainland.
That is a point that has been continually denied after our in-kind counts, you
know, administered by I don't know you guys or Hope Services or whatever.
And it just is counterintuitive. The findings that have been given to us every
time, that it's not a problem. It just runs counterintuitive to my experiences
because I've heard guys telling me that they came from the mainland. They
were given tickets and assisted to come here, and they love it. And I don't blame
them, right?
We've got consistent climate. They don't have to deal with freezing
temperatures or extreme heatwaves. We are the ideal homeless place to be. I
don't want that to get out, but I don't mind helping, you know, our own. And
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maybe the information that's coming from, you know,people who do these
studies is correct. I don't think it is, though, I really don't think it is, because it is
going to be a compounding problem. And at some point, it's going to get worse
exponentially before we even get a chance to get a grasp of it.
So if we continue to deny it. I mean, I'm not saying you guys are wrong. I'm
not saying I'm right. Now, I want you guys to revisit this. Okay, I really do, and
I'm not saying that Mr. Makaio is correct either, but he's on the ground, I mean,
literally, right? So I think those guys need to be listened to. He seems to be a
level-headed guy.
I think Ashley knows I was in Makaha the other day. Yeah, I went to a homeless
encampment across from the 7-11. And you know, this is a reasonable
population, you know, actually. You can talk to them and get input from them.
Of course, the first thing they're going to ask you, is whether you're a cop, right?
But aside from that, it's very easy to interact, except for the ones with mental
health.
I'm just throwing out these ideas already, because I cannot really help with this
strategic planning and the roadmap stuff. But you know, we've got nine
individuals here with nine different thoughts. And all I can do right now is just
throw them out there. You guys, as part of this roadmap, because you've got to
look at it, and I don't see it in here, like we're going to war, yeah? And you've
got to be able to say, "We're going to do this, and this is going to lead to this;
but if this doesn't happen, then we're going to branch out here." This is our
roadmap to get to zero homelessness, because that's what was told to us.
All of the providers said, they can end homelessness if they were given the
resources. So this Council stepped up and provided some resources. Maybe not
as much as people would like, but more than we have, nonetheless right now. So
we're expecting within a few years, we're going to end homelessness. That's
our goal. The last thing we want, or I would like to see, is we fuel or fund
programs that are intended to continue, well, have as an incentive to their own
existence, to continue homelessness. Then going be poho (Pidgen for "a waste
of time).
You guys have to put some kind of component in this roadmap or this strategic
plan of going to the Legislature and fighting for them to restore funding for
mental health services that was lost during—maybe about ten years ago. Got to
get that back. That is one of the main reasons why we have, again, this
homelessness situation here. And if they can get satellite State hospitals around
the island, because right now all of these guys all (inaudible). We've got to get a
place where we can house the mentally ill. So, we get those guys out of the mix
already.
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And something else that Mr. Makaio said was very interesting. We've spent all
this money for these little homes, right, for people to live in. But we did that all
with our frame of reference. We don't need maybe four walls for these guys.
They're hot in there, right? Maybe think of some other ways of, you know,
replicating things that would make it more comfortable for them.
Then lastly, I mean not lastly, I've got thousands if ideas really, but you know,
you could use some of that moneyI'm only thinking, you know, my frame of
reference is East Hawaii. You can go down, for example, Kings Landing, a lot
of those guys, they feel comfortable over there. So we can create some farming
communes, yeah, for these guys. We've got to really start thinking outside of the
box, you know, on this thing. But I do know this, we've got to get them off the
streets of downtown Hilo and probably, you know, Kailua-Kona, I would think.
That doesn't sound a real nice thing to say, but we've got to get strategies to get
them out of there.
I'm not real 100 percent sold on the Housing First model, I've got to tell you
that. Yeah, that seems to be a rallying cry amongst all of the providers, but I
don't know, man. We're going nowhere fast, although you guys only now have
this, you know, pile of money to work with. But the only thing we can do is trust
that you guys going take us in the right direction, you know. That's all I've got
to say.
ACT. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. I've got to ground myself a little bit. I
wanted to walk into this idea of community. Because on Page 18, it says, "The
community has spoken ..."these were the priorities. And so I went to the list of
participants. About 60 out of 144 that were invited, which is 42 percent. Sixty
of 200,000 island population was like .00003. So it really dug in like, what is
this community that's speaking?
And so my first question is, of the 60 participants, and I've heard business
community, is there a breakdown in any of this information of whether they
came from nonprofit or businesses? Is there a way for us to get that?
MS. KUNZ: Yes, we do have that data.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, could you provide that? Because, Sharon, and I think you
understand, because I get it. Some ideas got elevated, but I'll say it, it sounds
like 60 people, that stakeholder conversation was stacked with certain
organizations that wanted particular outcomes. And so that's my first concern.
And then something Mr. Chung talked about which I voted for Bill 111, and we
want to get to zero. And there's a number of things that he mentioned, but I was
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wondering if there was any thought given to, you know, that $9 million that we
have this fiscal and some of the money that we're already getting from the State
and how they would work together, do you have a response for that, Susan?
MS. KUNZ: Yes, actually, I think what you're referring to is the Emergency
Shelter grant that is provided by HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development). So the State administers that pot of money statewide. And they
do RFP's every year. And so the counties technically compete, right, against
each other for these grants. I'm currently having discussions with the State and
HUD about the opportunity to administer Hawaii County's portion of this fund,
and maybe rotate it similarly to the way that we rotate Home and Housing Trust
Fund.
It would give each community and opportunity to have the total pot of money,
which is only $450,000 a year for ESG (Environmental, Social, and
Governance), an opportunity to use this pot of money on an annual basis and
then rotate it. You know, we haven't even met formally. I've been having a lot
of discussions with the State on this, but they know the strategic plan was
coming down the pipeline.
They are very familiar with Iain's work. They are very excited about that fact
that we have him as a partner convening groups and putting this plan together.
So I think they are very excited to partner and leverage and see how we can
utilize these pots of money. It's the only other homeless pot of money that the
State has had, really, other than what this community has invested.
MS. LEE LOY: So, based on this Strategic Roadmap, it's permanent supportive
housing and permanent housing with supports. Are those two different things?
MS. HIROTA: Iain, do you mind answering that question?
MR. DE JONG: Thank you for the question. So permanent supportive housing
is a very specific model that is delivered with fidelity to achieve certain
outcomes. It is defined usually through existing Department of Housing and
Urban Development Federal Government programs in terms of what constitutes
Permanent Supportive Housing.
So the community was very much interested in doing more of that; however,
wanted to also ensure there was opportunity to deviate from some of the
prescriptive elements as permanent supportive housing is delivered, to also
deliver other models of support that would still provide for permanent
accommodation, but may allow for greater flexibility in meeting the needs of
certain population groups in slightly different ways.
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So as I recall from our meeting on August 12'', they didn't want to be boxed in to
just one way of providing permanent housing with permanent supports, they
wanted flexibility, ergo idea number one incorporated both permanent supportive
housing in the traditional sense as well as permanent housing with supports in a
more innovative localized interpretation.
MS. LEE LOY: Iain, I have a follow-up. Tell me again how many years you've
been working on this across the United States and Canada?
MR. DE JONG: I've been involved in Homeless Services since 1993.
MS. LEE LOY: Close to 25 or 30 years. Based on your experience, is a one-day
charrette usually, you know, the development of a strategic roadmap? I mean,
I'm asking because housing or homelessness has been around or so long and
really challenged by the idea that one-day or three-stakeholder meetings, and a
one-day stakeholder charrette was enough.
MR. DE JONG: I would defer questions on process to the Office of Housing in
terms of the timeline, but in terms of the methodology, the breakthrough thinking
methodology is used to accelerate decision making at a community-based level.
It is intended to draw upon existing stakeholders and expertise in through rapid
engagement. This particular opportunity allowed us to examine both existing
best and promising practices as well as opportunities to put forth ideas of
innovation.
And I would say that based upon the input that we received, both in the virtual
focused groups as well as in the one-day convening, at the end of the day the
priorities were clear. There wasn't a lot of dissenting views on what would be
further down the list even. It was pretty clear in terms of the people that were in
the room that these were the priorities that they were putting forward across a
broad range of stakeholders.
I think there's opportunity for further dialogue in the RFP process and the
implementation process to get into the weeds of how some of these programs
work, but I would say in my professional opinion, the ideas that came up from
the community members are pretty consistent with even longer-term planning
processes that have historically been used for like ten-year plans.
MS. LEE LOY: So, in your experience in the development of permanent
housing, you know, what happens in the interim? Because we experienced long
time for things to go vertical here. What happens in the interim? And then, you
know, if we are frontloading all this funding into construction, we're still
struggling with homelessness. And so, I was wondering if any thought was
given to some short-term solutions that some of our testifiers spoke of.
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MR. DE JONG: Yes. So, in the engagement in the focus groups as well as the
convening, we presented a broad range of ideas, including examining emergency
responses as one of the particular themes. Emergency responses would have
included things like expansion of homeless shelters, expansion of street outreach
services, mobile crisis, engagement, etcetera. While the community stakeholders
gathered considered all those, they felt it was in the best interest of the
community to move forward with permanent solutions using a substantial part of
this opportunity and investment, because it would have the greatest impact when
reducing chronic homelessness thereby reducing visibility of homelessness, as
well within the community.
MS. LEE LOY: I think that's why I keep struggling, because the word,
"community" keeps getting used, and I have still yet to define this community
that has spoken, because I think my largest concern is exactly what Mr. Chung
and why I supported this. It was to get to zero homelessness. And so, I'm
curious to know how this roadmap creates systemic change that actually
advances zero homelessness.
And right now, we're still in the nuts and bolts of going vertical and putting
programs together. And so, that's where my challenge with this plan is. And
maybe it's putting meat on the bones and walking us through all of those things
on top of what one of our testifiers mentioned, this capacity, right? Building the
workforce to help support some of this.
Mental Health issues. Again, Mr. Chung, talked about it. I'm going to yield for
now, but those are my big theme concerns about this Strategic Roadmap, is that
this is something that's going to be realized five years from now, and this
funding will have sunset. And we will not have made gains in the area of
reducing homelessness. Chair, I yield.
ACT. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy.
MR. RICHARDS: Chair.
ACT. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Mr. Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, thank you. If I'm reading this correctly, it looks like
the start of the solution, as Ms. Lee Loy just said, is going vertical. Meaning we
have to build the inventory. If we don't have housing, we're not going to be able
to build the workforce to address the homeless. And so, what we have to do, we
as a Council, we as a County Government, have to stress the development of the
housing. Because without that, we're not going to solve anything,
And something that our Lieutenant Governor said, I think, probably a couple
years ago now, we can save somewhere between $300-$400 million a year in
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healthcare costs just by putting roofs over peoples' heads. So it makes economic
sense for the government as a whole to get the housing. But we have to, you
know, as Ms. Lee Loy just pointed out, it takes us years to get this stuff going
forward.
And so, if I'm reading this correctly, and if you could clarify this, under the
Scale of Investment in Priorities, it says, 55 percent. The number one thing there
Permanent Supportive Housing and Permanent Housing with Supports. What
I'm reading that saying, is without question, we've got to build, and we've got to
get the structures in place so we can start attending to this because it's not just
about having programs and all that. We actually have to have bricks and mortar
to take care of the people. Am I reading that correct? Is that the number one
priority based upon what I'm seeing here?
MR. DE JONG: In response to the question, I would say, absolutely. I would
say that the stakeholders that provided their input were quite clear. We could
continue to add whether it was shelters or outreach programs. But if we have no
place for people to live, we're managing homelessness not ending it. And the
great thing about permanent supportive housing and housing with supports, is it
specifically catered to people with the deepest needs. It's catered to people who
live with a substance abuse disorder, live with the mental illness, and live with
long-term periods of homelessness.
And so, by putting the investment into Permanent Housing with Supports and
Permanent Supportive Housing, it addresses the needs, not just of homelessness
generally, but those that have been homeless the longest and those, as you were
talking about,the draw on healthcare costs, are most likely to be frequent service
users of emergency or in interactions with police, use hospital stays, etcetera. So
maximizing the investment in permanent solutions is going to get the greatest
result overtime in reductions of homelessness.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so thank you. And I try not to belabor this, it's just
that the start of the solution is building the housing. So that's it Chair, I yield.
ACT. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Chair David.
MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair Kierkiewicz. Mr. De Jong, looking at your
scale of priorities, we're talking about the number one priority is housing. But
you know, I'm just wondering, the Addiction and Medical Assistance, which is
number two. There's a lot of that going on here on the island. Housing them is
one way of dealing with them, but they still need some professional type of care.
And so, if you're building homes to address the addition and the medical
assistance population, then you would need additional—aside from building
those homes, you would need some sort of method to give them services. Mental
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health services or addiction services and that sort of thing. What I'm getting at
is, is this the standard in your experience of 25 years in prioritizing the homeless
needs that the home building, which obviously is the first thing that anyone
would think of, we need more homes. But if you look at the way the, let's say,
the judiciary system. You know, their deal is also that the homeless population
that gets arrested and put through the process, they get released because there's
nowhere to put them, especially on this island.
So, my thought is,, or my position is, I mean as far as priorities go, I would really
like to see, either one facility, a mental health facility on this island or converting
one of our old buildings in Hilo; somewhere to have these services provided.
That in my mind, would address a portion, a huge portion then would allow the
building of regular homes for people with needs. It will give that a better
chance, because if we build the homes which is definitely needed, we still have
this priority number two people. Nobody's really talking about them. And so
I'm wondering, I mean, in your experience has this been the way they prioritize
where the mental health or the addictive population is always number two
priority? That was my question. Through experience.
MR. DE JONG: Yeah, thank you for the question. So the first thing that
probably bears mentioning, is that people get better results with addiction
treatment. People get better results in mental health recovery if they have a
stable place to call home. That's been well substantiated in peer review
published literature for decades. And so, we have to think through the ways in
which we order the engagement with people experiencing homelessness who
might be living with addiction or mental illness.
In what we can draw from the peer review literature in my experience as well, is
that when people have a permanent place to call home with appropriate supports:
mental health supports, addiction recovery supports, etcetera, those individuals
fare much better over the long term than individuals that go to treatment or go to
the hospital first and then are tried to be exited for housing.
So, if you look at some of the seminal pieces going all the way back to the
mid-1990's, that have evaluated an approach that focuses on permanent housing
and supports versus an approach that say's, go to treatment first and then go into
housing, those instances where are supported in housing fare much better
longitudally (sic) than people who go to treatment first.
Now, on the second option of detoxification options, I would say that in my
experience in naming that as a priority of using homelessness funding is a bit of
an anomaly. I think that it speaks to the unique deficit that the community feels
on access to detoxification options, specifically for people experiencing
homelessness in Hawaii County. And I think that what we heard from
stakeholders is, for those individuals that are even on a pathway to housing, it
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isn't always just the treatment option, it's sometimes the detox option; the ability
for people to safely come down from whatever substance they've been using, to
engage in the process. And particularly on the shelter and outreach side of
service delivery, it would be great when we've encountered an individual who is
unwell because of their substance use, who is looking for a bit of reprieve, to
have a safe and is supported to do that so long as we wrap supports around the
individual to still focus on a housing solution. If we just provide detoxification
or treatment options for people with a substance abuse disorder and release them
back into the streets or to the shelters, the likelihood of uptake in substance use is
high again. So we've got to focus on those permanent solutions if we want to
have a permanent impact in people's lives relative to their mental illness or
substance use disorder.
MS. DAVID: Thank you. Yeah, this is a real tough one because I see on the
streets, homeless, and there's different degrees of people that are homeless.
What you're talking about,the rehabilitation; give people that have that
dependency an opportunity to have a place to stay, and then they'll better their
lives with help. But I'm thinking there's another group that have mental illness
that will not be able to stay in a home, even if you provide it. And that's the
other group I'm talking about. Because along with what the group that you're
addressing, there's a real increase in homeless people that have severe mental
illness, because you see them on the streets every day.
Those are the ones I'm kind of wondering about. How to address that in this
priority. They've got different needs and just wanted to throw that out there,
because it's not an all-in-one. And I know you understand that, but there is a real
population that even given housing, they would not be able to survive because of
their mental illness. So anyway,just food for thought and thank you for your
presentation. I appreciate it. I yield.
ACT. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Ms. Villegas.
MS. VILLEGAS: Aloha, thank you for being here, Iain. I had the opportunity
to attend your workshop in Hilo a few weeks ago, and it was great to see you
presenting. You have incredible passion and dedication and years of knowledge
working in this capacity and serving different communities.
However, I suppose I would be remiss to say that I'm not a little disappointed. I
feel like many of these things I could have written as kind of obvious what we
needed. I also find myself frustrated and I will admit, in my district I have the
honor and privilege and benefit of having, you know, Regina working directly in
District 7 and working hand-in-hand with Community Policing, which I feel are
invaluable partnerships.
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She's also partnered directly with people from the hospital and caseworkers, and
all different kinds or organizations who work with, as you guys do, I will
recognize the challenges of working with HUD and other organizations, which
is, "Here, you can have this money, but let me tie your hands on how you can
utilize it. I know that Hope Services struggles with some of those challenges as
well because they can only provide certain services under other bureaucratic
parameters. You can't do this, and you have to have this paperwork for that.
And people that are experiencing houselessness are in a crisis time, right?
There's a critical timeframe to get them to pay attention to you or want to
participate in your program, or be willing or open for your services, which is
something that I recognize as being so powerful and impactful in what 808
Homeless Taskforce is able to do, is meet that person right where they're at.
You're now living on the street with your family because your car broke down so
you can't get to work, so I'm going to buy you a car. And then, I'm going to
make sure that if it breaks, I have somebody who can help get it working again.
You need a place to live, okay, now you can work, now you have a job.
And then going to all the different agencies and doing all that footwork on a
case-by-case basis. I know there's a lot of discrepancy between parameters of
thought. Housing First, has received national recognition and is one of the
models that is most, I think—it's easy to defer to but we don't have the Housing,
number one. It's going to take us years to build this. I do not want to see this
$9 million. We can't even get Kukuiola built, and we've had money for that for
decades. And that needs to be lifted vertical for a number of different reasons.
So to me, this is just defining and validating the need for Kukuiola, right? I
mean, if Kukuiola is up and standing, that in itself as a project will contain these
priorities.
Beyond that, there are the people on the streets that need to just get sent home.
And after a period of time on the streets, they're ready to get sent home, and to
go there and to reconnect with family. They realize that coming to live on the
streets or the beaches of Hawai`i is not all that glamorous when you have the
potential of being raped, robbed, beaten, and left for dead, as have happened to a
number of our homeless community in the last few months. Less glamorous than
you think.
So while yes, these are the things we need, but this is only a portion of what we
need. We need to get the vagrants into some formI mean we don't even have
a jail for people to be put into to be held, is another irony. So I don't know,to
me, I'm not like, wow, yes, this is revelation and an epiphany. It's kind of like,
yeah, duh, we need mental health services; we need services for families, we
need a `ohana zone, we need a parking lot for people who can safely stay in a
place. We need Kukuiola built, and in general we need more housing that is
more affordable here. But that just doesn't apply to those who find themselves
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houseless right now,that applies to my own daughter and my son-in-law who
live in our one-bedroom `ohana that is, you know, they've far outgrown with a
child.
So thank you for the leeway, and with all due respect, I'm hoping for a little
more, and I want to make sure that this $9 million—it's easy to get stuck behind
a desk pushing papers, and we need the action on the street and people being
trained to do what has been done, and I've been witness to, is getting people
back on a plane if that's where they need to go; or car, because that's what you
need to work; and then, a place to live for your family that's safe and healthy.
So, I yield.
ACT. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Mr. Chung.
MR. CHUNG: I'm not going to say much more, but I think, you know,
piggybacking off of some things by Ms. Lee Loy, Ms. Villegas, and Maile. We
understand the importance of housing, yeah? Even with the Housing First
model, like $9 million is really a drop in the bucket when you talk about utilizing
our concept of what the homeless or houseless population needs.
I'm sure you guys have seen the price of construction lately. It's, you know,just
too high. You know, and how much do we spend on these micro-units that we
had down here in Kailua-Kona? How much was that, like big bread, yeah?
MS. HIROTA: So, for the total 50 units that we purchased, it was a $130,000.
MR. CHUNG: How much?
MS. HIROTA: It was $130,000.
MR. CHUNG: For how many units.
MS. HIROTA: Fifty.
MR. CHUNG: Oh, 50. Oh, that's good, yeah? That's not bad. That was when?
When was that?
MS. HIROTA: 2019. It was built in response to the need to help those
experiencing homelessness on the streets,to isolate, or separate themselves so
that the coronavirus wouldn't spread.
MR. CHUNG: What kind of prices are you guys looking at now? What kind of
costs are you guys looking at now?
MS. HIROTA: Costs for ?
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MR. CHUNG: The housing. I mean I know there's a lot of different types of
houses and housing models, but you know,this is called our strategic roadmap,
right?
MS. KUNZ: So if I can, I think we're going down a rabbit hole that we don't
need to go down. So we've created a roadmap with a vision, with a guideline for
what we think we need to do to address homelessness. You remember when I
made a few comments before I turned the presentation over to Iain, I said one of
the things that I took away from some of the workshops that I've attended is
understanding is understanding the difference between managing homeless and
ending homeless. I think both are critical in our path forward, and both are
recognized in this plan. We have some initiatives that are going to be critical for
us to help us manage homeless while they're trying to put in place the longer,
higher cost items of trying to end homeless. Does that make sense?
MR. CHUNG: Maybe it makes sense to you, because you guys work with it all
the time. So that's one plus one for you.
MS. KUNZ: Well, I'm asking you does it make sense to you? Managing the
homelessness would be the services would be that temporary housing, things
like that. And I think it's critical that we have those kinds of programs in place.
The roadmap allows for all of these things. We mentioned that we were going to
be starting to put together an RFP process. A lot of this is going to depend on
the community coming in with programs and projects that are being presented to
the Office of Housing that they want to have supported and funded. A lot of
them that are occurring that I'm hearing even today can qualify under this
roadmap.
So I don't want us to get so stuck on this list. It's providing us with guidelines.
It's a roadmap. It's meant to weave and turn and change. It's meant to be a
living document. I'm hoping that as we progress and we move along in the years
to come—you know, I'm very excited to see what comes to the table in the first
year when we put this RFP out. I want to see the service providers and the kind
of programs that are coming forward. We cannot build housing with $9 million,
but there are so many other pots of money out there that we have to leverage and
we have to be aware of.
You know, there's a Housing Production Fund that's coming down the pipeline.
The State is managing millions of dollars that were appropriated by the
Legislature. So we have to be mindful of all of these things as we're moving
forward.
MR. CHUNG: I don't think we want to be rigid in any way, shape, or form. But
what I'm gathering from you, I mean if you guys don't even have cost estimates
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and things like that, because if it's going to take us down a rabbit hole then
maybe what's confusing me is the title of this. Maybe it's not a roadmap, it's a
conceptual plan. Because as I said, a roadmap is something that's going to take
me from here to there. I analogize this, as I said earlier, to going to war. If you
put this thing—if the Ukrainians put this thing together in their battle against
Russia, they may as well just call it quits already.
I mean, I'm just saying. This is worth fighting for. Something very, very
important. And I know you guys are putting a lot of time in. And I'm not trying
to put you guys down at all. But I'm just saying maybe that's why I'm confused
here. It's not in my mind, a roadmap. It's a conceptual plan, because a roadmap
would tell us all of these things: the cost estimates and all of this and how you're
going to leverage monies, and all of this. And this is something else. And it's
not any fault of you guys. It's just maybe I'm confused on this.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Mr. Inaba.
MR. INABA: For the invitations that you folks sent out, and I think I need to
kind of go back and take one more look at the source. So when we invited these
people to the group facilitations, they were just selected by your office?
MS. KUNZ: Yes.
MR. INABA: Okay. Was there overlap between those who participated in the
focus groups online and the people who attended in person in Hilo.
MS. KUNZ: I believe Iain in his presentation said yes, there was a little bit of
overlap.
MR. INABA: Okay. I know you're going to provide it, but for the record right
now, were all of the homeless service providers on our island invited to those
sessions?
MS. KUNZ: Yes.
MR. INABA: Okay. Now in looking through this roadmap, it seems that
everything is based on those original three themes. Where did those themes
come from?
MS. KUNZ: The focus groups. But I think I'll call on Iain to
MR. DE JONG: Those three themes are the same three themes we've used in
strategic planning exercises in 10-year plans for well over a decade. They are the
main ways in which population group services as well as housing solutions are
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divided in those funding sources and other ways that the community tends to
think about the responses to homelessness.
MR. INABA: Okay, so we started with those three themes. That's the basis that
everybody kind of was oriented in, in the focus groups. Right, and that focus
groups were step one.
MR. DE JONG: Plus a fourth group, which is opening with Day 2 for any other
idea not included in those three themes.
MR. INABA: Okay. And of the 128 people that were invited to the focus
groups, it says about—how many people actually attended the focus groups?
Iain, maybe you can answer these questions.
MR. DE JONG: Yeah, I'm pulling up the number right now, because I do have
it. Just give me one moment. Of the focus groups, we had 120 invitations. Then
we had, I believe, I'm not finding the number really quickly here, so
MR. INABA: Okay, we'll get back to that,then. So for the people who did
participate, and I think I'm going to end up getting to where everybody else has
gotten but right now just so I understand what has happened, during these
sessions they were provided the three themes, and in these focus groups they
were asked to provide ideas within these themes to that fall within these
themes. Is that correct?
MR. DE JONG: That's correct.
MR. INABA: So there was 167 ideas total across all four themes, with the
addition of what might have come out. And then those ideas were boiled down
to 32 and then provided on the in-person day for further prioritization within
each of these thematic classes. Is that right?
MR. DE JONG: That is correct. And also another opportunity on the one-day
gathering to add any additional ideas that weren't included through the focus
groups.
MR. INABA: Okay. So again for housing, we just need to know who was there,
because first up, it matters. And not that these ideas not good ideas, they are
good ideas, but we need to know where they came from.
Being that the RFP process is going to get started soon and the intention is to
award funds in January, are we trying to spend $9 million between January and
June in this first year?
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MS. KUNZ: I don't know that we'll have total expenditure within a six-month
period. Maybe not, but we will definitely have it obligated.
MR. INABA: Okay. So should we look to try and spend some and the RFP
would be just for January for June? Is that what the intention is?
MS. KUNZ: Yes, that's correct.
MR. INABA: Okay. And then I think this is where I end up where everyone
else is, is that the ideas are here, but I'm not seeing the specifics as to the how
within each of these ideas and how they'll be carried out. So for example, under
Housing and Supports, if I'm looking at Page 22 (see Comm. 986), we have six
ideas. I think that's what we're calling them, ideas. Now within these ideas, for
example, "smaller homes and micro-homes." Do we have a plan or some type of
outcome I guess, thanks Ms. Lee Loy, for what we will accomplish for that idea?
MS. HIROTA: So you're looking at Page 22, correct?
MR. INABA: Yes.
MS. HIROTA: Yes. Okay, so that's—so the Housing and Supports and
Emergency Response, these are what were brought forward as ideas for these
categories. So our next step, right, is to work on and develop this RFP. As
Housing Administrator Kunz indicated, what was shared today are ideas, which
we appreciate, I honestly believe can fall into one of these buckets. Because
what we really need to do now is for organizations to come forward and respond
to the RFP and tell us how is this, what is the program they want to implement,
or project, and how will that address management of homelessness here on
Hawaii Island and work towards reducing the number of individuals
experiencing homelessness here on Hawaii Island. And while we threw out the
number, I get nervous when we say zero.
I think what would be a better page to look at is looking at Page 12
(Comm. 986), which is the Proposed Goals and Outcomes for the Priorities.
These are the priorities, and then with the help of OrgCode, we were able to
develop goals and intended outcomes. So I think at least from my perspective
it's not about how much does it cost and how many micro-homes do we have,
but more about what are some of your creative ideas out there that can fall into
one of these priorities and help us achieve our goals and intended outcomes. But
we can be to track and monitor and report back to you as we work towards not
only at the local level, but how do we take this money and leverage against
federal and/or State dollars to make our $9 million stretch as far as it can to
achieve our goals.
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So we'd like to be last on the list. We hope that we will be asking that question,
"Have you applied for federal funding, have you applied for State?" And how
can we be the last resort. Or, if this is a creative idea that is local, what does that
look like because will there be other funding sources available to do this work. I
hope that clarifies.
MR. INABA: I think it's helpful to look at Page 12. I mean that's the goal. So
Susan, when you look at Page 12 then, and our top priority according to the
community is permanent supportive housing and permanent housing with
supports. Now the goal we have listed is increased housing options for people
with complex and co-occurring needs, most of whom are experiencing chronic
homelessness. Now when you look at the funding, in Year 1, we're expend
66 percent of the $9 million on that priority, is that right?
MS. KUNZ: The percentages that you're seeing there are not related to the pot
of money or the percentage of the pot of money we intend to spend. It was just
meant to indicate the support that the group was providing to that initiative. It's
an indicator, right, of what the group though was important. It does not mean
that I'm going to allocate, what is it? Fifty percent of the monies to housing.
MR. INABA: Okay, so where in this thing does it tell us how much percent is
going to what of these priorities?
MS. KUNZ: So there's nowhere in there that tells you how much money we're
going to allocate to each criteria or each initiative. I think a lot of it is going to
be based on the applications that we get in. There's no way for us to tell right
now what's coming in.
MR. INABA: How do we know what to request for if we don't know what
percentage we are looking toI mean we know what the priorities are according
to these focus groups and the in-person day, so either we agree that's going to be
our priority according to this roadmap, and then we allocate funding, whether it's
the 66 percent or based on the fact that 66 percent of our participants thought this
was Priority 1, we plan to allocate 40 percent of the $9 million to this in Year 1.
That's what we're looking for, and we don't have any idea—I'll just say this: I
think the point of this was that we would know how the money is going to be
spent, and we're no better off right now than we were when Bill 111 first passed,
because we just don't have a grasp as to the dollars and how they're going to
so I hear what you're saying, that priorities are going to go out, but what
priorities are we putting out?
MS. KUNZ: I understand your concern, I really do. But I think it's not wise for
us at this point to do set asides, for example, and set aside a pot of money for
housing because the goal is to spend the money. The goal is to get the money
out into the community and to award it based on the criteria. Is it meeting the
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initiatives that are set forth in the roadmap, and then based on the RFP and kind
of a ranking and rating, right, of how you will get, your applications will get
assessed, which will be made public before we go out.
But I don't think it's a good idea to set aside money at this point. I really want to
see—for example, I reflect on our performance with CDBG (Community
Development Block Grant) and HOME. Although we have priority steps in the
consolidated plan, I don't set aside money for certain activities. We give points
to applications that come in based on the priorities, but I don't set aside money.
You know, we wait and see till the applications come in and we rank and rate
them based on the rating sheet.
MR. INABA: Okay. So I'm going to just wrap it up, because I know—I'll just
say this: I hear what you're saying, but the point of this was also to leverage
funds from outside our County, right, and if we know what funds or what
programs exist outside this County, and there's matching with the priorities that
have been expressed in this roadmap then we should be able to know to a certain
extent how much of our $9 million we're willing to commit to that area
generally. And I think that's what we are not having, and that's probably the
heartburn that we're feeling right now. And I know this is a five-year thing, and
I think it's going to be more than five years. But it might be less than five years
if we aren't seeing something more conclusive as to how we're going to use
these funds appropriately.
That's all I can say. I just don't feel we have any better information right now
than we did months ago. These priorities are helpful, but this Council always
wants to know how are we spending the people's money, and is it going to be
used to its highest and best potential. And I think that's what we're not still clear
on. So I'll just leave it at that. Thank you. Chair, I yield.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Mr. Chung.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah again, very quickly. Not to nitpick or anything, because
you guys are the administrators, and we have to put some faith in what you guys
come up with. But this one kind of caused me to press my button here. Susan
when you said the goal is to get the money out to the community, that wasn't my
goal. My goal, and I think the rest of the Council's was to use that money to end
homelessness. That's the goal. That was the stated goal. Not to get this money
out to the community.
I mean, you know, if that's an ancillary result of the end, that's one thing, but
when you gave what was a misstatement, that's not the goal and I'm really with
Mr. Inaba. We want to get the biggest bang for our buck and if we can leverage,
we can use some of these monies to get matching funds or grants or whatever,
that's what we're trying to do. I would really be worried we lock ourI don't
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know what you guys have planned for the RFP, but we lock ourselves into
five-year contracts,then it's hard for us to wiggle out of that situation. I'm just
kind of concerned about different things, but you know, you guys are the experts
so at some point, you know, we have to at least give some deference. But as
Holeka said, you know, that's in our nature. We just question things, right? But
thank you.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. And I really want to give you an opportunity
to comment too, but I want to state very clearly for the record, my support of
Bill 111 was to end homelessness. I've heard other terms like "functional zero,"
right, but that's just a revolving door of managing homelessness. We're not
getting to zero. If they're not in service then or they're not in stable housing,
they're just not on the streets. That's not ending homelessness. And for me, I'll
count you this way, for ending homelessness means for some people who serve
that industry they'd be out of jobs. That's the way I was thinking about it, right?
If homeless is gone and I was supporting a program around homelessness, I
would be out of a job because they're no longer homeless.
And maybe that's the goal setting I was at and why I'm trying to find that
pathway there. And if we don't get there, let us know so maybe we can maybe
move other resources into that area, or take a different approach. I think like
Mr. Chung, this, maybe it is words matter. It's a roadmap, and I'm seeing it as a
primer to start funding programs that help homelessness and goal setting. But
thank you for letting me get that on the record.
Completely support the idea of solving what is a very complex issue, which is
why I asked the question how a one-day stakeholder charette can solve a
problem that's 30 years in the making. But that's where I'm at. So Chair, I
yield.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, to summarize. Oh,
Ms. Hirota, go ahead.
MS. HIROTA: Can I just add for the record, I misspoke. So the project Kaloko
and Hale Hanakahi, the 58 micro-units were actually purchased in 2020, not
2019.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: I just got a follow-up question. So those micro-units that was
purchased are now that NAS pool. Is that the one, or a different one?
MS. HIROTA: Yes, that's the one.
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MS. LEE LOY: Where did they go?
MS. HIROTA: So Parks and Recreation started their construction, so they
allowed us to temporarily stay there until they started construction. So they just
started their renovation work, so we had to get out. So we dispersed a few of
them to nonprofits so they could add additional space, so they converted some of
their office space to shelter rooms and they used the housing units as now office
and/or storage. So we were able to add a total of 10 beds island-wide, and then
the others were distributed to different County departments to be used at their
sites for storage.
MS. LEE LOY: Perfect. So the monies was around this housing piece. Are
they continue to be housing? What I heard you say is there might be some
shuffling of spaces around, but they're still being utilized for temporary housing.
MS. HIROTA: They were created in the sense of if we give them the units, then
they could take some of their space that they use right now for storage, empty it,
then put beds in it, and then create more beds.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. I yield.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Anyone else?
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, Chair?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Mr. Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah,just comes back. We keep circling around the room
and it comes back. I agree with what Ms. Lee Loy said about the intention of
111 was to work on ending the homelessness problem that we're facing. And I
come back to my original saying, we're going to have to build housing if we're
going to start truly taking this seriously. So just want to leave with that. Thanks,
I yield.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I'll keep my remarks really brief. I think at
the end of the day what we're looking for are results. Results matter. We have
provided a really significant investment in this unacceptable issue. Every single
person should have access to safe, accessible, appropriate housing. You guys are
being gifted $45 million to do something. To move the needle dramatically on
this issue. What I would like to be able to see, and some of my colleagues
highlighted this earlier, is a matrix that underscores all the different federal, State
philanthropic dollars we have right now to address the issue. Because I always
imagine this money, which is really golden in the sense of that it is so flexible.
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GOREDC-32 September 20,2022
We're not mandated to do anything other than use it to address homelessness and
housing. How is this going to help fill in the gaps? I'd like to see that.
I think there's a little bit of a disconnect in the longer strategic roadmap that was
provided to us and then the presentation deck. We're really curious about how
we are prioritizing the funding because on Slide 18, you talk about different
percentages of investment to each of these areas, and I feel like we're getting
ourselves locked in a little bit too soon. We haven't really heard what the
community is capable in terms of creative and innovative solutions to solve for
this. So I'd like to see a little bit more flexibility. I'd like to understand the
report back to Council on an annual basis. How are you guys going to make the
determination, measures of success, what sort of data sets are we going to be
relying on. And I want to make sure that we're funding what works.
If you're not producing, if we're not seeing the numbers go down, if people
aren't the services that they need, why are we continuing to throw money at
solutions that aren't actually helping to solve for the problem. So we want that
accountability on an annual basis so that we know that funding is being used
appropriately. And I'd like to see just a bit more investment in preventative
measures. Yes, housing, but how are we going to make sure that people don't
land into homelessness in the first place. So lets do a little bit of research around
that because potentially there might be some policy solutions that we can be
putting forth to our contingents in some of your work.
Okay, anybody else before we take the vote on closing file for this
communication? Alright, there's a motion on the floor. All in favor please say
Ic aye.
Vote on Comm. 986: The motion to close file on Comm. 986 was carried by
Filed the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David,
Inaba, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Acting Chair Kierkiewicz—7.
Noes: None.
Absent: Committee Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
and Ms. Kimball—2.
Excused: None.
ACT. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: That brings us to the end of our agenda. May I
have a motion to adjourn?
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GOREDC-32 September 20,2022
ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 4:00 p.m., Mr. Inaba moved to adjourn the
MENT: meeting. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy and carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David,
Inaba, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Acting Chair Kierkiewicz—7.
Noes: None.
Absent: Committee Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
and Ms. Kimball—2.
Excused: None.
ACT. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: The Committee on Government Operations,
Relations and Economic Development is adjourned at 4:00 o'clock. Thank you .
Take care.
Approve.•
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Ms Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Acting Chair ( ate)
Government Operations, Relations,
and Economic Development Commit
HK/dt
Page 27