The stream of people moving from the state's emergency shelter in Kaka'ako to permanent homes has slowed to a trickle, spurring housing officials to cast aside their early hopes of closing the shelter in March and instead start looking for a long-term site.

Just 18 percent of the 340 people who moved into the shelter last May have left the converted warehouse and moved into homes. And only one family has done so in the past five months.

The experience with the Kaka'ako shelter shows that tackling the homeless crisis will take much longer and be more involved than the state originally anticipated.

Shelter officials say every bed vacated at the shelter is quickly filled. As they place people in housing, more and more are being pushed onto the streets as rent increases outpace wages.

"The housing lists are closed and housing just isn't available, and you have more and more people falling through the cracks," said Doran Porter, the new executive director of the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance. The group manages the Next Step shelter and serves as an advocate for the poor.

The Next Step shelter — the state's first — opened in the wake of the city's decision to close Ala Moana Beach Park overnight in March 2006, displacing more than 200 homeless people.

For two months, the displaced lived at two Honolulu churches, Central Union and Kawaiaha'o. Most of the residents at the shelter come from the park, but some were homeless elsewhere in Honolulu. Still others were living in overcrowded conditions with relatives.

With Next Step, the state was focused solely on getting people off the streets, and spent about $200,000 to clean up the warehouse on Forrest Avenue and install cubicles. The goal was to move people into permanent housing and close the shelter by the end of March. Plans now call for keeping the shelter open at its current site until at least July.

Porter and others said the difficult work of placing people, especially families, in permanent homes points to larger-scale concerns about the state's economy.

LOW WAGES BLAMED

Most of those at the shelter work and get other services, such as food stamps and healthcare. Still, they find it nearly impossible to afford a place on their own.

Ansinia Alon and her family have been at Next Step for eight months.

The lone prospect for permanent housing Alon has gotten for herself, her boyfriend and their 7-year-old daughter was a place at Kuhio Park Terrace in Kalihi, but the offer for the public housing unit fell through.

"They never called me back," Alon said, sitting on a military-issue cot in her cubicle at the shelter and crossing her arms over her Taco Bell polo shirt.

She and her boyfriend work at the fast-food eatery, earning near-minimum wage. Their salaries barely cover living expenses for the three.

A different strategy is being employed at two state shelters on the Leeward Coast, one of which is open and the second set to open soon. Both aim to transition people into homes slowly, with better facilities and more services at their disposal.

The state spent about $1.5 million to turn a former military barracks in Kalaeloa into a transitional shelter. It cost about $6 million to build a 300-bed shelter next to the Wai'anae Civic Center, which is scheduled to open in early to mid-March.

Housing officials declined to say how much they likely will spend on a new, long-term site for the Next Step shelter, where residents will stay for as long as two years in private rooms instead of cardboard cubicles and work to better their job skills.

The new operational model is similar to those at the two Leeward sites.

In Kalaeloa, families are encouraged to stay for as many as two years as they look for a home and link up with services, from job training to parenting classes. The Wai'anae shelter will be open during the day and offer classes and training for those who don't work.

Next Step is currently open from 5:30 p.m. to 8 a.m. During the day, residents must leave.

"We want to improve our services to ... give our clients a better foothold," Porter said.

Sandy Miyoshi, head of homeless programs for the Hawai'i Public Housing Authority, said Next Step will evolve into a "transitional shelter" over the course of the year.

It's unclear when the shelter will move to a new site.

The shelter has a lease at its site through July, and likely will be allowed to stay to 2008. Officials said the new site could be an apartment complex.

"There will be a two-year limit and people will be able to take advantage of the limit," Miyoshi said. "You'll be able to stay in place ... and get more utilization of community resources, including job training."

The alliance is asking for between $1 million and $1.2 million to operate the shelter in the coming fiscal year, up from about $900,000 this fiscal year.

The money doesn't include renovations for a new site.

IN FOR A LONG STAY

On a recent afternoon, the Next Step warehouse was warm and buzzing as families, couples and single people came in after a long day.

After 10 months, many have turned their cardboard cubicles into homey enclaves, perhaps knowing they were in for a long stay. Some hung keepsakes and photos on their 5-foot walls, covered their cots or mattresses with flowered spreads and tucked their clothes away in a dresser.

In her cubicle, Shisha May is sorting her laundry. Washing clothes, like a lot of chores, is more difficult when you're homeless, she says. She has to catch a bus to a laundromat, and troop back with her clothes in her arms.

May, a home healthcare aide and tutor, has been at the shelter for two months. She earns about $1,000 a month, but can't find an affordable rental. She used to live in a one-bedroom apartment in Makiki, but was forced out last year after her $775 rent was increased to $1,025.

"The people here are trying to do their best," May said.

Advocates for the homeless praised the state for its new approach to the Next Step shelter, and said keeping homeless people in a stable environment until they can get into permanent housing is a move in the right direction.

But they also warned against spending too much money on temporary fixes. The only solution to homelessness, they say, is more affordable housing.

Betty Lou Larson, housing programs director for Catholic Charities Hawai'i, said the shelter will face some challenges as it moves into a permanent site.

Chief among them, she said, will likely be opposition from nearby residents.

In the longer term, there are questions about how such a site will be maintained, if the state is only providing operating funds.

But the biggest struggle, she said, will continue to be placing people in permanent housing. Even if people are able to stay at a shelter longer and are able to get better-paying jobs or more education, the path to permanent housing will be a long one.

The key to housing people in the long term, she said, will be to put continual pressure on lawmakers to address homelessness.

"We need to not only address this issue when it's hot," Larson said. "We need to address it when there's a stream of funding, too."

Margot Schrire, volunteer coordinator and spokeswoman for the Institute for Human Services, which operates emergency shelters in Kalihi, said Next Step was already somewhat of a "transitional" shelter, since the same residents were coming back night after night.

But she said the switch could put much more needed emphasis on vital issues, including getting people into better-paying jobs.

"With an emergency shelter, you're looking at more rudimentary form of shelter," Schrire said. "We have a shared dorm. That is not the healthiest long-term housing for people, so our goal is to get people in and out."

But IHS has the same problems as Next Step.

Some people are forced to stay at the shelter for months as they try to find a place.

Some 40 families are on the waiting list to get into the shelter.

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.