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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, March 19, 2001


Kalaeloa homeless shelter awaits financing

By James Gonser
Advertiser Leeward Bureau

KALAELOA — Sandi Miyoshi is hoping $420,000 earmarked in the House version of the state budget for a homeless shelter at the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station is approved so work on the project can be completed and homeless families can begin moving in this fall.

Miyoshi, administrator of the state Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawaii, is overseeing the state's Kalaeloa Homeless Shelter project. Using $1.2 million in state money, work began last year to refurbish two former barracks buildings for use as shelters in what is called the downtown area of Kalaeloa.

Miyoshi said the additional money is needed to complete the project and will be used to install water fittings, buy new equipment (including two vehicles) and for final structural and landscaping improvements at the 12-acre site.

"We had the funds set aside for redeveloping two barracks out of four building at the site," Miyoshi said. "Those two are more critical because they will actually house homeless people. The other two are planned for support services."

The Kalaeloa shelter will be the fourth shelter developed by the state, Miyoshi said. All are managed by private organizations. Steadfast Housing Development Corp., an organization specializing in housing and services to homeless mentally ill people, will manage one building with 70 individual units. The other building will be run by Catholic Charities and will have room for 35 homeless families.

"We have contracted out some basic work on the buildings, including bringing them up to code regarding fire safety and (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance. That money has been stretched out to do as much as we could to the two buildings. The $420,000 will be used to finish the job and allow people to move in, hopefully by this August or September."

Miyoshi said if the financing is not approved, she will have to find other money to finish the work because the buildings are not inhabitable as they are.

Bill Bass, executive director of the Barbers Point Naval Air Station Redevelopment Commission, said when this facility and other shelters planned by the Veterans Administration are completed, hundreds of homeless people in Hawai'i will have access to shelter and services not previously available.

The VA estimates there are 12,000 to 15,000 homeless people in Hawai'i, about 3,000 of them veterans. The agency plans to transform three former Navy buildings into a center for homeless veterans on an adjacent 6.9 acre-parcel.

The center for homeless veterans will be opened in phases, starting with the low-cost housing, then the job training and treatment programs, said Rick Velasquez of the Veterans Administration in Hawaii.

Miyoshi said the two groups moving into the same area are a good match because they can share some services, such as job training, child care and medical services.

"Because of the critical mass we develop in terms of people with special needs, the veterans people will lease a building from us and put in providers with services available to everyone," she said. "Everyone will benefit from that."

The House version of the budget will be presented to the Senate and then go to conference committee negotiations in April.