A one-stop resource center where Wahiawa's homeless pick up everything from toiletries to service referrals is in search of a new home — and fast.

The Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance was told yesterday to immediately clear out of its existing site at the corner of Olive and Walker avenues, across from the Wahiawa McDonald's parking lot.

The alliance has been getting free rent for the 1,280-square-foot site from New Life Body of Christ Christian Church.

Bishop Michael A. Henderson, pastor of the church, said a business decision was made to end its lease for the property due to higher insurance premiums caused by a series of vandalism incidents.

About 200 homeless people in Wahiawa and other parts of Central O'ahu have been served by the center since it opened last summer, said Doran Porter, executive director of the alliance, an advocacy agency and homeless service provider.

The facility was open on Wednesdays and Fridays, and clients received hygiene items, emergency food and clothing, and other goods, as well as a variety of services from computer usage to case management.

Originally, the agency was to have until next Friday to vacate the premises but the discovery yesterday of the second glass-breaking incident in two weeks prompted the church to step up the shutdown to the end of the day.

The church has been paying about $2,100 a month for the property.

But the glass exterior of the building has been a frequent target of vandals. Last week, the church paid $1,700 to repair the glass and yesterday's incident will require a similar outlay of cash, Henderson said.

"The longer I stay in there, the longer I'm responsible for the glass," he said, explaining why he wants to return the building's keys to its owners as soon as possible.

The church looked at enclosing the site with walls, but doing so would have cost $30,000, Henderson said.

A Legal Aid Society of Hawai'i satellite office, which has a smaller site in the building that's used about once a week, is also being asked to leave.

Porter said his agency is putting out feelers in an effort to find an alternate site.

The closure comes at a bad time, he said, because homelessness is a growing issue in Wahiawa, and Central O'ahu in general, he said. "And it's going to be more and more of a problem for the community there."

The center is staffed by site coordinator Catherine Datuin and about six volunteers.

Datuin said the site has been a critical resource for the area's homeless, and she noted that several have gone on to become volunteers.

"This place gives everybody a chance to be something better," she said.

Datuin said she's distressed by the shutdown.

"Where are the homeless people going to go?" she said. "They have nowhere to go. This is their comfort zone."

The alliance runs similar centers out of Hale'iwa and Kailua. They will not be affected by the Wahiawa closure.