Step by step, Kailua-Kona dentist pushes for homeless shelter

KAILUA-KONA — Dr. Cliff Kopp, a Kona dentist, has been marching across the Big Island.

He aims to bring awareness to a chasm existing among homeless services in West Hawaii — namely the absence of a large-capacity emergency shelter that could serve as a point of contact and a safe haven for members of some of the area’s most vulnerable homeless demographics.

He set off Friday on his fifth trip — a 16-day, 500-mile trek around the island and back. But it was his fourth walk that finally gave legs to his vision of a 300-bed homeless shelter in Kona.

After returning from that venture, Kopp was approached by several members of the community. Among them was Mattson Davis, former CEO of Kona Brewing Co., and Brian Cook, a long-time land developer. Together, along with others, they have set in motion plans to create a nonprofit organization, Shelters Hawaii Inc., and turn Kopp’s vision into a reality.

“Kona needs a shelter, not more 140-180 square foot apartments that cost $700 per square foot to build when we’re getting the containers for next to nothing,” Davis said. “It’s ridiculous.”

A political process

A central cause of the problem, Kopp said, has been the unwillingness of the county and state’s political leadership to publicly stand behind emergency shelter initiatives.

“My advocacy is simply because the people who are in leadership roles are against shelters,” Kopp asserted. “They are obstinate that they are going to create (permanent) housing. Obviously, if I thought there was any chance of housing being created to alter the problem, I wouldn’t walk. There is no chance housing will ever be created (on a large enough scale) to alter the problem. I know shelters are the only answer we have.”

Scott Morishige, the governor’s coordinator on homelessness, said it’s not quite that simple. For several years, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been shifting its priority for federal funding to the Housing First model, which aims to create permanent housing in the hopes of eradicating homelessness from the nation’s tapestry of social problems.

“The state’s directing of funding really needs to be in alignment with what is happening at the federal level and across the country,” Morishige said. “When a community’s application for federal funding is evaluated, it looks at how the whole system, the community as a whole, is orienting its funding to be in alignment with the priorities set at the federal level.”

In other words, if Hawaii doesn’t make permanent housing its primary objective, money from the national government dries up.

And HUD doesn’t just evaluate how federal monies are spent, but also takes into consideration how state and county funds are appropriated to address the ever-growing problem on Hawaii’s streets.

To that end, the most recent county initiative is a micro housing unit project in the Kona Old Industrial Area across from HOPE Services’ Friendly Place.

The roughly $2.5 million project, set for completion on Oct. 31, was initially slated to build 32 permanent housing units out of old shipping containers for Kona’s chronically homeless.

“As a state, that is a philosophy we are trying to replicate across our entire system,” Morishige said. “You can’t end homelessness without making an investment in housing. If someone is in a homeless shelter, they’re still someone who is homeless. That being said, there will always be a role for emergency shelters and transitional housing projects in our continuum.”

That role will continue to be supplemented by state funding, according to both Morishige and Nicole Lowen, state representative for Kona’s 6th District, as they say a comprehensive strategy is necessary to address the scope of the issue.

The state will release requests within the next month for proposals for a variety of different homeless programs, including emergency shelters. Lowen said with a quality plan, Shelters Hawaii Inc.’s endeavor could most certainly procure state funding.

She added she’s long been trumpeting the need for more of all types of services in Kona, shelters among them.

“In Kona, we have a lack of every kind of service,” Lowen said. “Any private organization that has a solid enough plan in place where the state can partner, I would be supportive of trying to make that happen.”

The incoming county administration is also fervently behind the concept of emergency shelters, although mayor-elect Harry Kim reiterated the necessity of a comprehensive plan, which includes a focus on the at-risk population to stem the problem at its source.

“Not only will we support an emergency shelter, we have to,” Kim said. “But I don’t like to particularly identify shelter or housing (as the priority). We have to address the entire scope of the problem of what has happened with the lifestyle here. Homelessness and the need for shelter is one consequence of what we have created.

“A huge percentage of people are at risk. If we as a community are not scared of this, I don’t know what we should be scared of. If this percentage gets any higher, what kind of community do you think we’re going to have? It damn well isn’t going to be the kind of community we want.”

To protect and serve

If political entities provide vocal and financial support to Kopp’s vision of a 300-bed emergency shelter, that eliminates the first and largest obstacle to its realization.

The question then becomes two-pronged: If we build it, will they come? And if we build it, who will come?

“It’s a question of protection for people who need protection. That has developed into basically the number one priority for unsheltered homeless who are out there and don’t want to be out there,” said Kopp, who through his advocacy has made contact with several homeless women and families.

“They would come into shelters.”

Federal numbers compiled by HUD for 2015 appear to support Kopp’s thesis.

Based on those figures, roughly 36 percent of the counted homeless across the United States, or 64,000 individuals, is made up of homeless families with children. Many of those people are on the street to escape desperate situations of domestic violence at home.

And about 60 percent of those 64,000 people are children under the age of 18.

Those figures are rising in Hawaii, where the number of individuals in homeless families with children jumped by 145 people, or 4.6 percent, from 2014 to 2015.

While rising, the figures are also likely low, as they are compiled based on local Point-in-Time Count statistics. PIT Counts have inherent canvassing flaws, some of which are hard to address as those who wish to avoid being found are typically never counted.

According to HUD, however, nine out of 10 homeless people in families with children who were counted were staying in shelters — a fact that lends credence to Kopp’s notion that if emergency housing was available, it would be utilized.

Some homeless families are hesitant to approach the state for basic services like health care or food stamps, as parents, particularly mothers, fear they will be located by abusive spouses or their children will be taken away from them by child protective services.

This fear also leads to fewer displaced children finding their way into classrooms, and a lack of education can create a circular quality to the homeless conundrum. But children’s enrollment in school is automatic once their families find their way into shelters.

“The same people who don’t wish to be found are the most vulnerable — the ones most in need of shelter,” Kopp said.

All of the statistical evidence available indicates that if a shelter is constructed in Kona, many of the most vulnerable homeless will find their way inside. From there, access to a multitude of other services becomes available.

On their own

The other at-risk group Kopp and his crew are striving to assist are unaccompanied homeless youth — children alone on the streets. According to HUD, the members of this group under the age of 18 were tallied at nearly 4,700 individuals nationwide. More than half of them were counted in unsheltered locations.

Again, those numbers are likely low, representative of a defect in the procedural strategy of PIT Counts that Morishige openly acknowledged.

Hawaii’s 2016 PIT Count, for example, marked the collective number of unaccompanied homeless youth in Kauai, Maui and Hawaii Counties at three — or only one unaccompanied homeless child per island. Lowen said she found that statistic quite surprising, and she wasn’t the only one.

“I would say that is low,” said Wil Murakami, principal at Kealakehe High School. “As far as individual kids under the age of 18 without adult supervision and homeless, basically these are the kids on the run. We don’t have an accurate count of who these kids would be.”

This demographic of homeless may be the most difficult to count, something HUD mentioned explicitly in its report.

“Collecting point in time information about youth experiencing homelessness remains a work in progress,” the report states.

The greatest obstacle is simply fear — fear of being returned to an abusive household, fear of the foster care system, or for kids strung out on drugs, fear of the police. This fear also keeps children from crucial aid that could help change or even save their lives.

Claire, now in her mid-20s, spent several weeks as a member of Hawaii Island’s unaccompanied homeless youth when she was 17. Her experience as a homeless and/or near-homeless individual included heavy drug and alcohol abuse as well as sexual exploitation and rape.

“I ran away a lot when I was younger, and I didn’t want to get sent back home. When I was trying not to get sent back to my mom and step dad’s house, I probably would have avoided (any attempt of contact),” Claire said. “The morals and values ingrained in you as a drug addict are that you don’t involve the police. I felt like everything that happened to me then had to be handled on the streets.”

Morishige said, however, that Kopp’s emergency shelter would be less effective for unaccompanied homeless youth than for homeless families headed by an adult, as their utilization of the shelter would be impeded by mandated regulations involving issues like custody of a minor.

“There are legal reasons why (children) likely wouldn’t be able to stay at a mainstream shelter,” he explained. “But the state realized we also need to prioritize resources for underage youth. Funding has been set aside for fiscal year 2017 for youth homeless outreach — about $300,000 in general funds that will be administered by the office of youth services.”

HUD also announced at the beginning of September funding availability to supplement a youth homeless demonstration project. Morishige said the neighbor island continuum of care, Bridging the Gap, has been encouraged to apply.

Timeline for an urgent situation

Kopp’s proposed location for his 300-bed emergency shelter is a 6.5 acre lot next to the Kona police station off Queen Kaahumanu Highway.

The nonprofit that will organize construction, Shelters Hawaii Inc., is yet in the formation process, but discussions about the proposal are already underway.

Kopp, who may serve as a special consultant to the board, has ceded logistical control to the experts who have joined him. Development will be headed by Brian Cook, whose company developed 120 homes at Malulani Gardens and built several homes at Bayview Estates in Keauhou, among other projects on the Big Island and Oahu.

Cook — who has met with several county departments already, including planning and engineering — acknowledged the development process will be lengthy and complicated, making a timetable difficult to project.

“The county, as we understand it, is leasing the land from the state,” Cook said. “We would need their permission to go in and get a hazardous waste survey done to see if, in fact, the site is suitable for the project. Then it would be availability of water, looking for sewer water drainage, archaeological issues and (on down the line).”

Another issue beyond the length of the county’s lease on the land is that part of the proposed site is still occupied by the Humane Society, which Cook said is supposedly relocating.

Cook, who will serve initially as Shelters Hawaii Inc.’s vice president and secretary, has enlisted the services of architect Michael Riehm, who will lay out preliminary plans based on Kopp’s design and will also serve as treasurer of the nonprofit.

The design is open and minimalistic, what Cook described as a military setup with a cot and foot locker for each person. There will be four beds to a room and the site will also include bathrooms, showers, laundry facilities and administrative offices, among other amenities.

Kopp projects its cost to be roughly $2.5 million, the same amount the county spent on the 32 micro housing units in Kona.

“The perfect weather, which is part of the problem (of homelessness), also gives you the solution,” Kopp said. “You don’t have to build enclosed apartment complexes. You can build these types of designs.”

Davis will serve as the CEO of the nonprofit. It was frustration with the homelessness crisis in Kona and a disbelief in the efficacy of the micro housing unit project that spurred his involvement.

“There are huge obstacles — money, community support, organization, county support, all of that stuff,” Davis said. “But it’s a culture, it’s a spirit of what are we going to do to give these people an opportunity to get clean, get a meal, get a shower. It’s going to take a group really willing to take action and not just checking the box, so to speak. I’m not really sure how it’s going to move yet.”

He reiterated the importance of political support, but said if the shelter is to be built, it will require a community effort from public and private sectors alike.

“What I want to start with is this: Cliff has a good idea, Brian knows what it takes to get development moving, Bobby Command understands what we’re trying to do and is getting us some information on property and challenges,” Davis said. “The question is how do we get to stage one to help these people feel safe? That is what we’ve got to figure out.”