The state appears to be making progress in its push to address the homeless crisis, according to a new homeless point-in-time count, which estimates the number of unsheltered homeless in the Islands is down about 25 percent compared with 2007.

Advocates note that the number of homeless has increased since the count was taken in January, due to the economic downturn.

But the increase is not as bad as feared, and overall they acknowledge that the state is doing far better than it was two years ago in regard to one of its biggest social problems.

Advocates also said that though the new count of unsheltered homeless doesn't appear to be a wholly accurate number — since surveyors acknowledged not counting some known homeless — it does back up assumptions that the total number of people on the streets has greatly decreased thanks to more homeless shelters opening up statewide.

"We have fewer families on the street. That's a good thing," said Darlene Hein, program director of the Waikiki Care-a-Van, which provides services to homeless islandwide.

Meanwhile, the count shows the population of unsheltered homeless has fluctuated greatly by region on O'ahu.

Urban Honolulu, for example, has seen a 20 percent increase in the number of unsheltered people (with 312 people counted on the streets this year, up from 259 in 2007). There were 254 unsheltered homeless counted in East Honolulu, up from 176.

But the number of homeless on the streets in 'Ewa and the Wai'anae Coast — the epicenter of O'ahu's homeless crisis — was significantly lowered, the study said, from about 747 in 2007 to 384 counted this year.

Altogether, the count — which adds up the number of homeless statewide at a given "point in time" — estimates there are about 5,782 unsheltered and sheltered homeless in the Islands, a decrease of 4.6 percent from two years ago. The study warns that the figure is likely conservative, however, since known homeless were not counted if they refused to be interviewed or were in areas deemed unsafe or inaccessible for surveyors.

WAITING LISTS

Since January, shelters say they are seeing steady requests for help, and a new Hawai'i Public Housing Authority survey shows that at least 400 families are on waiting lists to get into homeless shelters statewide.

The same survey shows about 3,970 people are staying at shelters in the Islands - about 700 more than the number of sheltered people included in the January count.

Over the past three years, the state has spent upward of $40 million to open emergency and transitional homeless shelters — especially on the Wai'anae Coast. The state estimates that shelters statewide now have about 1,261 units and 768 beds.

The number of homeless people in shelters is way up from 2003, when a state study counted 1,922 people in shelters. In 2007, there were 2,700 sheltered homeless statewide.

That was compared with about 3,358 homeless people who were unsheltered.

Advocates say the results of the new count are promising, since they mean more people are getting services and help. But, they added, the state needs to ensure that those who do go into homeless shelters eventually end up in long-term housing rather than back on the streets.

Connie Mitchell, executive director of the Institute for Human Services, which runs two emergency homeless shelters in the urban core, said that getting into a shelter might not be that hard these days. But finding permanent housing can still be next to impossible for some.

"The housing inventory just isn't there," she said.

Kent Anderson, executive director of Family Promise of Hawai'i, agreed, saying the homeless problem won't be solved until more affordable housing is created for low-income families. Still, he said, lots of work over the past few years has paid off.

"It's nice to see those resources are paying dividends," he said.

Family Promise runs an emergency shelter and helps get families into long-term housing.

'A HUGE NEED'

The program now has a waiting list of about 100 families, Anderson said.

"There's still a huge need and demand out there," he said.

Advocates also said that it appears much of the push to help the homeless has been directed at helping families. That has left singles and couples with little help in finding long-term housing, they say. Utu Langi, director of the state's Next Step shelter in Kaka'ako, said most of the homeless he sees requesting shelter these days are singles or couples.

The shelter has about 200 people and "steady" requests for need, he said.

"We have plenty of people coming," he said.

While pointing to the progress being made thanks to more homeless shelters, many advocates also highlighted another more disturbing figure in the count — which shows about 26 percent of the 2,514 unsheltered homeless statewide are "chronically homeless," a definition that includes anyone who has been on the streets for more than a year.

The figure is up from just 6 percent two years ago, though the study warns the methodology for counting the population in 2007 was different and so isn't analogous.

Still, advocates say the figure shows just how difficult the homeless crisis is — since many of the chronically homeless have other problems, such as drug or alcohol addiction or mental health issues.

"We really need to look at solutions for this really difficult group," said Hein, pointing out that the chronically homeless often need a lot of convincing to get help. "These are the people who are the hardest to house."