Editor’s note: This is part 2 of a 2-part series examining Hawaii County’s plans to build a temporary campsite for Kona’s homeless on a plot of state owned land near the West Hawaii Civic Center. The temporary site will be
Editor’s note: This is part 2 of a 2-part series examining Hawaii County’s plans to build a temporary campsite for Kona’s homeless on a plot of state owned land near the West Hawaii Civic Center. The temporary site will be on five acres and accommodate up to 100 homeless. Eventually, the county will expand the site to accommodate at least double that number on a permanent basis.
KAILUA-KONA — While procurement and construction of abodes are currently the hot topic of conversation surrounding Village 9 — the proposed site for a temporary homeless encampment meant to evolve into a permanent housing project with the capacity to serve hundreds of Kona’s homeless — Assistant Housing Administrator Lance Niimi said constructing the units isn’t actually the county’s primary concern.
He noted Mayor Harry Kim has been in contact with several “prominent” residents of Hawaii Island who are interested in lending a hand financially. Roy Takemoto, executive assistant to Kim, added that multiple developers have already reached out with advice.
The real concern, Niimi explained, is not so easily addressed.
“The most daunting challenge is the management of the homeless when you put them all together like that,” he said.
Linda Vandervoort is a manager and heads up social service outreach at Hale Kikaha, the temporary encampment the county set up in the heart of the Old Kona Industrial Area after evicting nearly 70 homeless individuals from Old Airport Park in August. Roughly 30 homeless reside there at any given time, situated on a lot next to 23 micro housing units the county built for the chronically homeless last year.
Vandervoort said she’s been forced to expel six campers from the temporary site in its one month of existence, typically for drug and alcohol use.
Village 9, like Hale Kikaha, will follow a federal Housing First model, which has low barriers to entry and doesn’t require tenants be sober for admission. However, rules exist to keep illicit substances off the property, and Vandervoort has found drug paraphernalia and empty bottles of booze at Hale Kikaha on multiple occasions.
She has asked others to leave for behavioral issues manifesting as unacceptable, aggressive confrontations.
“Some have had to go because they can’t stabilize enough to live in an environment like this,” she said.
Vandervoort believes it would take her and at least two others to manage a maximum capacity of 100 at the temporary encampment at Village 9. On-site social services would also be built into any version of the permanent housing development, meaning eventually the housing project would require more trained providers, which Niimi said will drive up costs.
Furthermore, the behavioral issues at Hale Kikaha bring up an interesting question, one that the previous administration under former Mayor Billy Kenoi dealt with when deciding where to place the micro housing units.
If we build it, will they come? The answer at Hale Kikaha was yes. Overwhelmingly.
“We did not anticipate these kind of numbers as far as people wanting this kind of encampment site,” Kim said of Hale Kikaha.
But when the county transitions to Village 9, located several miles away from downtown Kona where many homeless spend their days, the concern about whether or not the homeless would utilize the new camp to its capacity is a valid one.
Vandervoort was blunt in her assessment on what percentage of homeless she believed would be interested in such a situation.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say a majority,” she said.
However, she was speaking of the majority of Kona’s homeless in general, not the majority of those who sought shelter at Hale Kikaha.
She said the older population and the more vulnerable populations would be much more likely to agree to move a few miles away from pretty much everything. Those demographics may represent a large number of the homeless typically found congregating in downtown Kona.
Vandervoort said creating an aesthetically pleasing community would go along way toward garnering homeless interest in Village 9. Still, the most important component would be transportation.
“It would make sense, if not be totally essential, to have public transportation,” said Vandervoort.
Vandervoort said aside from the six individuals she’s had to kick out of Hale Kikaha, another four have parted on different terms.
“Working with HOPE Services, we have moved four people from the camp to the emergency shelter,” she said. “That’s the next step up. These are people who wouldn’t have gone into the shelter to begin with. They stabilize, realize that working with service providers is not that bad, and they see that this is a way they can live more comfortably and better their situation.”
That’s exactly the type of result Kim is hoping Village 9 will produce, but on a much larger scale.
“We’ve learned a lot in regards to how to set it up and how to adjust to a more permanent site,” he said. “That’s what we need.”
