Several state lawmakers are calling on the Hawai'i Public Housing Authority to reconsider plans to convert a building at the Puahala Homes low-income housing development into transitional shelters.

The state announced in January that it will renovate 14 vacant and dilapidated units in the Kalihi public housing complex and turn them into transitional homeless shelters, which will offer the same social skills and job-training programs as state shelters on the Wai'anae Coast.

Four state senators and five state representatives have asked the authority to reconsider the decision at its meeting today.

In a news release, Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, chairwoman of the Human Services Committee, said the state offers a continuum of care from emergency shelters to assistance in buying homes. While there is a need for transitional shelters, taking away public housing units undermines efforts to improve public housing.

"Changing the rules now without considering the effect it could have on our system and these residents could have devastating unintended effects," Chun Oakland said.