Posted on: Tuesday, October 7, 2003

EDITORIAL
Shelter lottery is a pitiful indicator

It's a sign of the times when shelter space is so tight that homeless women have to throw numbers into a hat to get a chance for a safe night's sleep.

This is not some perky TV quiz show where the winners receive a new car or vacation for two. Here, the prize is a slice of floor space and a sleeping mat.

But that's the system that the Institute for Human Services women's shelter has had to adopt because there's simply not enough room at the inn. Those who lose the lottery are turned away and thus exposed to elements, which include rape and robbery, among other assaults.

The booming numbers can be explained in part by the economy and in part by social conditions that force women to leave their home. They are also due, in part, to an ongoing campaign to roust homeless people out of parks and other public places at night. The City Council is considering a law to close more parks at night.

We certainly support the police doing their job to arrest drug dealers, sex offenders and others who make parks unsafe at night. But where are those whose only crime is being homeless supposed to go? Think hard about this, because we're desperate for a solution.

Now would be the time for those who can, including religious and philanthropic organizations, to open spare rooms for these needy women.

But Lynn Maunakea, the institute's executive director, is right when she says a more permanent fix must be found, namely affordable housing. And it's clear that many homeless people are mentally ill, and need help.

One possible solution is a concept known as "supportive housing," which targets the chronically homeless. Not only do they receive subsidized housing, but they also get medical treatment and other help to make them functional citizens and good neighbors. A team of social workers monitors supportive housing tenants and helps them pay the rent and utilities and mediates disputes between the tenants and their landlord and/or neighbors.

It might seem like an expensive proposition, but ultimately supportive housing could be a bargain.

A University of Pennsylvania study of New York's supportive housing program in the mid-1990s found that the cost of subsidized rent and supportive services was no more than the cost to taxpayers for shelters, jails and emergency rooms for homeless people. Plus, supportive housing got them off the streets.

Hawai'i must consider such programs if we want to make a dent in the homeless problem. In the meantime, though, to make donations to the women's, men's or family shelters, or to volunteer to serve meals, contact the Institute for Human Services at 845-7150.