Donated building will aid homeless

Associated Press

KAILUA, KONA, Hawai'i — A facility to help the homeless in West Hawai'i will open in a donated building on the site of the county's former wastewater treatment plant.

Honolulu-based developer Stanford Carr is donating a manufactured home, which contractor Metcalf Construction Co. is set to build at the two-acre site of the county's former wastewater treatment plant in Kailua, Kona's old industrial area.

Construction, which could take as little as 30 days, may begin as early as next month, said Pete Hendricks, Hawai'i County Deputy Managing Director.

The center, which will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, will offer a place for some of the estimated 350 homeless in West Hawai'i to shower and wash clothes and even a kitchen to prepare meals.

People will have a place to receive mail and access to social-service agencies.

Office of Social Ministries —Êan affiliate of the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu that operates two Big Island shelters and the food bank — will run the center, said Carol Ignacio, executive director of the organization's Big Island branch.

The center will target the chronically homeless, who often have mental-health or substance-abuse problems, she said.

"The problem is not going away. We need to help people move in the right direction or it's not going to get better," Ignacio said.

"There is almost an epidemic of chronic homelessness. That group has been stereotyped and shoved off to the side. That is no longer OK."

In addition, Hendricks said, there are growing numbers of single mothers who cannot afford to rent apartments, even though they are employed.

"We have people who are living out of their cars who have to go to work every day," he said.

The new center is an interim solution, Hendricks said.

Hendricks said area business owners have not expressed opposition to the center.