Mayor, City Council differ on homelessness
KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
Mayor Kirk Caldwell promoted his plan to tackle homelessness Wednesday during a news conference at Honolulu Hale.
Chronic homelessness will continue to be a major source of contention between Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell and City Council members if deliberations on the fiscal 2017 budget package are any indication.
At a news conference Wednesday, Caldwell urged Council Chairman Ernie Martin and his colleagues to support his plan to create a new, eight-person Asset Development and Management Division to oversee programs and initiatives to provide affordable and homeless housing as well as manage existing city-owned affordable housing projects.
Caldwell spoke of the gratitude expressed by new tenants of the 90-bed Hale Mauliola homeless “navigational” center and he praised the three people from the current Office of Strategic Development for making the Sand Island facility a reality. The same team also led the purchase of a former school site in Makiki last year that also is intended as housing for the homeless, he said.
Caldwell wants funding to unite the two OSD hires (one of the three recently quit) with six other people to form the new division and place it in the Department of Community Services.
“It’s really, really hard work,” Caldwell said. If a private developer had $64 million to spend on housing projects, “you don’t just devote two people. You have lawyers, you have appraisers, you have accountants, you have the … contractors. It’s complicated.”
Following Caldwell’s remarks, which were broadcast live over ‘Olelo community television, Martin joked to reporters that all he had to offer the mayor following his “emotional plea” was the box of Kleenex tissues Martin had next to him at his desk.
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The mayor is expected to seek re-election for a second four-year term this fall. The Council chairman is considering a challenge.
Martin noted the administration’s request to fund seven OSD positions at a cost of $616,000 was rejected by the Council last year. The move led the administration to hire three people through contracts.
This year’s plan calls for $477,000 for the eight positions and an additional $1.9 million for management of new and existing housing facilities and other expenses.
“It’s already been debated the last couple of years,” Martin said. “The concern is this — whether we are proceeding down the right road.”
He questioned the need to pump an additional $1.8 million in next year’s budget to continue and expand Hale Mauliola, noting that only a third of the beds have been filled since it opened in November. The administration has projected the current beds will be filled by late March.
Martin also repeated criticism that the administration has been slow to spend the more than $64 million that the Council has provided the past two years for Caldwell to tackle homelessness.
“We’ve appropriated a significant amount of resources over the last two years only to not really have a definitive plan before us,” he said.
Sandy Pfund, who heads the OSD, said Tuesday that the administration has spent about $22 million providing various housing opportunities and has plans for $62 million in all.
Martin also asked how much more money should be pumped into Housing First initiatives. Housing First is focused on providing shelter to chronically homeless individuals. Martin and other Council members say more attention needs to be paid to homeless families.
Anticipating that Martin would focus on his homeless policies, Caldwell at his news conference distributed copies of two letters he sent to the Council chairman asking him to identify sites found by Council members that could be used for workforce housing. Martin mentioned the sites in a Feb. 10 Honolulu Star-Advertiser letter to the editor.
Martin suggested that Caldwell look at Council members’ previous ideas. He said suggestions by Council members to consider the Hilo Hattie site in Iwilei and another project in Waikiki for homeless or affordable housing have been dismissed with little regard by the administration. Caldwell officials have said the Hilo Hattie site is cost-prohibitive.
Caldwell accused Council leaders of holding up two housing projects, including the city-sponsored Halewaiolu senior housing project on River Street in Chinatown and expansion of the existing Moanalua Hillside Apartments complex near the Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center.
But Martin said there are legitimate reasons to go slow on both projects to address concerns raised by neighbors. In the case of the River Street project, the administration failed to discuss the development with its next-door neighbor, Borthwick Mortuary, until recently.
Martin stopped short of saying he would recommend that colleagues reject funding for the eight positions, stating that he wants to hear the administration’s pitch before deciding.
Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said she’s dubious about funding the new division, adding that she continues to get conflicting signals on the direction of the administration’s housing priorities.
The operating budget proposal is for $2.3 billion, a $57 million, or 2.5 percent increase, from this year. The capital improvements package calls for $834 million in projects, $491 million of it for federally mandated sewer improvements. That’s up from this year’s $569 million.
The Council Budget Committee will begins discussions on Caldwell’s proposal Wednesday.
38 responses to “Mayor, City Council differ on homelessness”
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So the Mayor can’t find 6 people within the C&C government to reassign to this new Division without the government collapsing and adding to the payroll? Like there is no slack in other departments? Geeez, give me a break.
Mayor probably knows from experience that having people work from different departments on the same projects doesn’t work. Department heads place a higher priority on their own projects…
with Caldwell our children and grandchildren have no future…..
We kupuna know that the mayor is doing an outstanding job.
Wake up welicky. When asking for a budget that large you need to present detailed plans. In this case the plan looks like another scam to hire cronies….much like the rail scam which was a classic bait and switch after the hook was set. Martin was good on this one.
Nope. The mayor needs the staff. Pfund and company prove that.
inlanikai, our City government is already woefully understaffed when it comes to housing and development. Hawaii continues to languish, moving at a snail’s pace mired in red tape and greenie litigation, while states on the mainland facilitate housing projects and business development. Meanwhile, our young local families leave the islands for better opportunities…
nobody owes anybody else a crackerbox
Please tell us in detail what the 8 clowns will actually be doing for the $60,000.00 a year salary. Much like politicians they will socialize and decide where to have lunch all morning, have lunch break from 11:30-1:00, come back make a few phone calls, read a few emails, then leave early for the day to tend to personal business.
$60,000? Are you kidding? Start higher. A janitor makes that.
This type of leadership will oust Kirk out of another term. He can’t control the spending of the Rail, now he can’t handle the homeless problem.
McCully–you got it!! And, these people are all from the same dominant party!!! What would happen if we had a two party system like most States?
We would probably have accountability and consequences.
Baloney, Caldwell has gotten the joh done despite Martin’s obstruction. Fire Ernie. He’s playing politics with the homeless.
Baloney, Martin keep the Mayor in check and asking the tough questions. Caldwell is the one playing politics trying to position himself for another term. Fire him?
Martin for Mayor
We kupuna Know an insult to the office of mayor when we hear of it.
I’m disgusted with Martin. He seems much more concerned with trying to tear down Caldwell and become his successor than running the city. I have zero qualms with him raising legitimate questions, but his intentions are so thinly veiled it’s pathetic. He’s placing his own personal ambitions over the future of the city and I hope that the voters of Oahu recognize him for the windbag he is.
Fire Ernie, he’s holding up residential development
Fire Caldwell, Grabauskas, Horner. Poor performers
Second the motion.
Third the motion
Nope Grabauskas et al are doing outstanding jobs.
Ernie Martin’s bad joke with the tissue paper is reason enough to remove him from the chair of the city council. Let’s put in someone who is serious about making Honolulu better.
I agree. He’d rather play politics then deal with the problem.
I agree the joke is out of perspective but I am thinking the sarcasm was directed at Caldwell because of the poor attempt to extract such a large sum of money without a detailed plan. Much like a teenager asking for a $50,000.00 allowance needed for lunches,books, Iphone, surfboard,….a BMW. Once you give the money no one is held accountable because the deal will have been done.
In terms of the problem, its not a large ammount.
There will be no end to the homeless problem, get used to it. By providing temp shelter you only encourage more later. Each politician can only hope to handle the problem for the duration of his/her term. No one can come up with a plan to end homelessness.
This is Housing first housing. It’s permanent and not temporary.
A new office and more staff solves nothing.
Can you trust the Mayor? He spent $1 million dollars to study Ala Moana Beach Park. I think it was wasted money.
He was never a good steward of hard earned taxpayer monies.
I think the study was good. We kupuna remember the Queen’s Surf bar from another generation. The park in Ala Moana is not well utillized.
The Mayor is the mayor of dumb and expensive ideas.
The mayor just wants to add more adoring faces to his entourage behind him as he grins to the cameras while proposing signature projects that will glamorize his legacy. What a joke. Actually Martin has proposed some practical solutions, and isn’t willing to hand the mayor a blank check.
Sounds like ole Ernie Martin is grandstanding in spite of the fact that mayor Caldwell is expected to seek re-election for a second four-year term this fall.
Then there’s Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi getting ” conflicting signals.”
Typical politicians who are not working in the best interest of the people.
What we have here is misrepresentation/miscommunication of Mayor & Council members who are NOT on the same page.
We need new/fresh people to represent our city to make the best decisions for the welfare of the people.
Voting time is this fall. We need new people with new ideas that’ll all get along.
I wonder what role Caldwell’s wife and his role at Territorial Savings plays into his plan. Or perhaps it’s a “sister” or “brother” bank that is invovled.
Too bad they can’t agree. Kinda of funny, though.
Fire Ernie, he’s delaying housing for the homeless.