$10 million in county grants go to nonprofits addressing homelessness and housing

After one amendment and more than two hours of discussion, the Hawai‘i County Council voted to award $10.1 million in county-funded grants to 15 projects addressing homelessness and housing challenges across Hawaiʻi Island.

The vote was 6-3, with council chair Holeka Inaba, councilmember Matt Kanealiʻi Kleinfelder and councilmember Rebecca Villegas voting no Friday during the special meeting.

The council postponed the vote during the last general meeting on Jan. 22 to give the Office of Housing and Community Development the time to meet with providers and make administrative adjustments, which in the previous two rounds of the five-year funding had been conducted after the council’s final vote.

After adjustments were made and the total expenses were documented for each program, the Office of Housing and Community Development submitted an amendment to the original resolution with the overall funds decreasing from $10.5 million to $10.1 million due to changes made to seven programs.

The Housing office provided the council with the original and the new proposed budgets, which laid out each program’s administrative and program expenses.

The Homelessness and Housing Fund allocates, which allocates 75% of Residential Tier Two property tax revenues to programs addressing homelessness and housing in Hawaiʻi County, has two more years of funding left and is set to expire in 2027.

The organizations and programs that will receive round three of the funding are:

• Big Island Substance Abuse Council
  • $1,200,000 for Hula Ke Ola
  • $250,000 for the Mohala Family Resource Center
• Bridge House, Inc
  • $537,061 for a recovery housing program
• Going Home Hawaiʻi
  • $847,561 (originally $867,715) for a re-entry and recovery housing program
• HOPE Services Hawaiʻi, Inc
  • $1,147,224 (originally $1,142,544) for the West Hawaiʻi Emergency Housing Program
  • $575,205.17 (originally $578,964) for the Hale Maluhia Emergency Shelter
  • $885,196 (originally $896,225) for the Keolahou Emergency Shelter and Hale Kulike
• Lokahi Treatment Centers
  • $261,000 for a recovery and housing stability program
• Men of Paʻa
  • $577,847 (originally $875,000) for Hoʻokanaka Reentry: Reintegration, Recovery and Housing
• Neighborhood Place of Puna
  • $685,449 for the ʻOhana Homelessness Prevention and Support Program
  • $782,289 (originally $794,289) for the Coordination Center
  • $1,215,088 for the Homeless Engagement Team
  • $387,455 for the Anchor Point Youth Program
• Project Vision Hawaiʻi
  • $367,138 for street outreach from Hilo to Kona
• Salvation Army Family Intervention
  • $424,675 (originally $437,391) for the transitional housing program

A majority of the funds that decreased stemmed from changes made to the proposal from the East Hawaiʻi nonprofit, Men of Paʻa, which is receiving the Homelessness and Housing Fund for the first time this year.

When analyzing the expenses, the Office of Housing and Community Development and Men of Paʻa performed cost analysis of buying versus renting a van, housing units and supplies. While the motor vehicle increased from $75,000 to $134,000 and supplies increased from $3,000 to $37,585, housing expenses decreased from $450,000 to $120,000, which adds up to a difference of $291,585.

According to Housing Administrator Kehaulani Costa, the office worked with organizations to meet the 10% administrative expenses cap that is a requirement of receiving the funding.

“It is challenging with this in particular, because what looks like overhead and administrative expenses are program expenses since the intention is to provide direct housing as much as possible,” Costa said. “Many organizations have rent and utilities as program expenses.

“I think really clarifying what administrative expenses are and differentiating them with program expenses is important so these organizations can write the best application. This was a painful experience for the organizations and our staff.”

While there were questions about the amendment, the council passed it unanimously 9-0 before discussion began regarding the entire resolution.

Councilmember Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder thanked the Housing office for its work, but believed a deeper analysis was needed.

Salaries for employees working at the specific program were recorded as program expenses, and for some programs, the salaries made up 82% to 90% of the funding.

“While (administrative expenses) may be crucial, I believe the program should be the focus for this funding,” Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder said.

He then asked Diane Nakagawa, director of the Department of Finance, to help prepare clearer guidelines between administrative and program expenses moving forward.

Inaba said: “This funding has gotten away from us, and from where we are right now, I still have budget concerns. There are instances of expenses used for the same purpose across different awards for the same organization as an example. I donʻt feel, based on this information, that we are in compliance with county code yet.”

Villegas brought forward her own amendments to the resolution, including removing Neighborhood Place of Puna’s Coordination Center program from the award completely.

The Coordination Center is a single point of contact for people to call for assistance in accessing resources and getting connected to the help they need. It also provides housing case management for households who recently exited homelessness and those at risk of falling into homelessness.

According to Billi-Jo Pike, director of Community Engagement, the Coordination Center is utilized islandwide and has taken more than 2,400 calls as of Dec. 2024 from kupuna, families and individuals looking to access housing resources, emergency rental assistance and for information on qualifications.

“I just donʻt think spending $794,000 on 2,300 phone calls is effective use of money,” Villegas said. “There are people on the street and they need help. I want to see more beds, shelter. I want to see action. There is this pattern of data collection and capacity building and it’s becoming a numbers game.”

Last year, during the second round of funding for the Homeless and Housing Fund, this program received $286,459. The increase to nearly $800,000 this year is for the expansion of services and to open a drop-in center in Hilo, according to the Neighborhood Place of Puna.

“(The drop-in center) is the natural next step to leverage resources, all of the resources out there to keep people from falling back into homelessness,” said Paul Norman, the nonprofit’s executive director. “We don’t know how effective it will be yet, but we know there is need for same-day assistance and in-person interactions.”

Amendments put forward by Villegas failed to pass by a vote of 8-1.

There currently are no plans about how to disperse the remaining $361,000 that now is available from this round of funding, Costa said. There is the potential to apply the money elsewhere, as long as it pertains to housing and/or homelessness.

More than $17 million in grants were awarded in the first two funding rounds, benefiting 15 non-profit providers and supporting 37 projects.

The funding strives to complement existing federal and state funding resources, according to a press release from the County of Hawaiʻi.

“This fund is an investment in the well-being of our residents and in the strength of our island,” Mayor Kimo Alameda said. “Homelessness is a critical issue, and our administration is committed to ensuring that we maximize the fund’s impacts so that we house more individuals and families.”

For more details about the program, or to join a mailing list to receive future updates, contact ohcdengagement@hawaiicounty.gov.