City & County of Honolulu
Mayor’s Housing First
ACTION PLAN
Jun Yang
CCH Office of Housing
Executive Director
City and County of Honolulu
Demographic of Honolulu’s Homeless
Persons
Honolulu 2013 Point In Time Count
4,556 homeless persons
1,465 unsheltered homeless
505 chronically homeless
Unsheltered:
78% severely mentally ill
55% chronic substance abusers
29% both mentally ill and chronic substance abuser
City and County of Honolulu
Chronically Homeless Persons
City and County of Honolulu
Policy and Philosophy
Treatment First vs Housing First
• Transition through various levels of housing, shelters,
transitional apartments
• Each move closer to independent housing
• Treatment usually mandatory
• Housing = Treatment
City and County of Honolulu
Elements of Housing First
City and County of Honolulu
Results of Housing First
Quincy, MA = 50% reduction over four-year period
Norfolk, VA = 40% reduction over two-year period
Denver, CO = 36% reduction of two-year period
Portland, OR = 70% reduction of two-year period
Portland, ME = 49% reduction over three-year period
Wichita, KS = 61% reduction of four-year period
City and County of Honolulu
Recommendations
1.
Adopt Housing First principles to address health &
safety of unsheltered homeless.
a.
Implement two-year pilot at scattered sites in
Downtown, Waikiki & Waianae at estimate cost of
$48,000 per person annually.
b. Transition federal homeless Continuum of Care funding
towards long-term Housing First implementation.
c. Adopt policy to support use of CDBG and HOME federal
funds to implement Housing First.
d. Adopt policy to focus on acquisition & rehab of SRO
units.
City and County of Honolulu
Recommendations
2. Leverage federal, state, community and private sector
partnerships.
3. Address federal funding reductions by:
a. Monitor federal updates
b. Implement cost saving measures, and
c. Amend fiscal policy to support use of alternate funds
City and County of Honolulu
Recommendations
4. Benchmark goals against 2013 PIT Count to place 15% of
chronically homeless persons in housing by 12/31/15
City and County of Honolulu
ACTION PLAN
Housing is one of the First Steps to Treatment
Some say it is the First Step to Treatment
768-4304
jyang@honolulu.gov
Call me!
City and County of Honolulu