That has become the accepted plan nationwide to effectively end homelessness.

Lynn Maunakea, executive director of the Institute for Human Services, said including transitional housing in the new request for proposals moves the project in a positive direction.

"The good news is it is getting closer and closer to housing," she said. "This one is more for transitional housing, which is better than a resource center. We need the housing. This is definitely a step in the right direction."

But it took a Corporation Counsel ruling to save money intended for the project. The money had been diverted to other projects by the City Council after notification by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development that the homeless project didn't qualify for the money as described in the first request for proposals.

Malcom Tom, city deputy managing director, said those problems were mostly technical and have been corrected in a new request for proposals released last week.

The City Council had attempted to "reprogram" a total of $15.3 million set aside for the center to other groups that provide housing and service to Honolulu's homeless population, which in effect would have killed the proposal. However, the Corporation Counsel opinion issued this month said that shifting the $5.3 million committed to the project last year is illegal without the mayor's consent or unless the money is at risk of lapsing.

The money doesn't lapse until the end of the this year, and the administration says there is enough time to move the project forward by then.

Harris said it is "unfortunate" that the council was able to move $10 million — the amount allocated this year — away from the homeless center, which he said is desperately needed.

"Everybody recognizes that the homeless problem is one of our toughest problems, and yet, here we are with the ability to make some difference, and instead (the City Council) steals the money and fritters it away," Harris said. "They just basically played politics with the $10 million."

Among projects to be financed with the $10 million that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated this year are: $2 million for Hui Kauhale Inc. to build affordable housing in 'Ewa; $418,000 for repair work at the Institute for Human Services emergency shelter; $877,000 for Hina Mauka, a drug and alcohol treatment provider; $680,000 for the Kalihi-Palama Health Center; $3 million for the YMCA; $200,000 for the YWCA; $250,000 for Meals on Wheels; and $190,000 for the Ronald McDonald House.

Ann Kobayashi, chairwoman of the council's Budget Committee, is on the Mainland this week and not available for comment, but she has said the plan for the transition center was not supported by homeless providers because there is no money to run the facility once it is built.

Harris said the city is given about $20 million a year in federal money to support nonprofit groups that serve the homeless, and a portion of that money will be directed to the winning bidder for operation of the new facility.

Harris announced plans for the homeless facility more than a year ago and said it would be a "one-stop shop" where homeless people could live until given appropriate healthcare and job-training services and then helped to find a home of their own.

Maunakea said with final proposals due Aug. 6, it will take a well-established group with adequate resources to make the project happen.

"If there was someone already thinking about it and if they are ready to do it, they could," she said. "You need to demonstrate control over the property. That is not an easy thing to accomplish in six weeks."