The home, which has room for 42 full-time residents, has 36 now. The state allows the home to do respite care for the remaining six openings, and the home has been doing that, said John Alamodin, Lunalilo Home executive director. Respite care allows the elderly to be brought for short periods of time while caregivers are at work or on vacation.

The new permit would enable the home to add 20 to 30 people to receive care from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with three meals included.

If no one objects to the permit, the home will be able to start offering the daycare service in October, Alamodin said.

When Lunalilo Home made a presentation to the community in March, the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board endorsed the plan, Alamodin said.

The home is at the back of a small housing area, and residents say they have not seen any increase in traffic or noise, said Sammy Mokuahi, a longtime Hawai'i Kai resident.

"They've been doing daycare there for a while," Mokuahi said. "It's a good thing for the home and for the community."

More and more places are offering, or thinking about offering, respite care to elderly residents on a part-time basis, experts say.

The Hawai'i Kai Retirement Center offers a variety of living accommodations on Kawaihae Street — about a mile and a half from the Lunalilo Home.

The Caring for Life Foundation, a Hawai'i-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to come up with alternatives to long-term residential care, had proposed a daycare center on May Way to handle up to 60 people. The proposal did not receive the support of the neighborhood board that includes 'Aina Haina and Kuli'ou'ou.

Kilohana United Methodist Church in Niu Valley has said it will explore the possibility of developing a daycare center for senior citizens.

"We get calls about this service all the time," Alamodin said. "There seems to be a comfort level from the surrounding community, an acceptance, to the home. The majority of our clients come from this community."