Posted on: Monday, July 19, 2004
Coalition seeks to aid homeless
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
A homeless outreach coalition has identified and signed up 283 people in Windward O'ahu, including 90 children, for programs and services and hopes to contact others when it visits Kailua this month.
The Windward Homeless Coalition, a partnership of agencies, churches, community groups and residents, will conduct an outreach event July 27 from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at St. Anthony's Church parish hall at 148 Makawao St.
In addition to offering services, the coalition is trying to build a database from which to draw statistics that will be used to help find ways to address homelessness, said Robert Naniole, Windward district manager for the Honolulu Community Action Program, a coalition member.
The coalition was formed after the eviction of campers, many homeless, from Waimanalo Beach Park in 2002, Naniole said.
"It's just a group of service-providers, community organizations and residents who wanted to get together to brainstorm on how we can deal with the problem of homelessness, especially on the Windward side," he said. "There was enough energy and participation to do something."
So far, the coalition has conducted outreach projects in Waimanalo, Kualoa and Kahuku that yielded 92 cases, representing 283 people. Kailua will be the last outreach event.
After completing this initial round of outreach projects, the group will return to the other locations to compare results, Naniole said, adding that he thought there were more homeless than they were able to sign up.
The coalition has no money source and is operated by volunteers, he said, but some of the members have money for homeless programs, and Honolulu Community Action Program has money for low-income programs.
"For HCAP, it makes sense because we're working with these people anyway," Naniole said. "It's helping us get our job done."
It also means fewer people fall between the cracks, he said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
