While in Washington, D.C., this week, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi plans to lobby the Biden administration for more federal funds for vouchers designed to reduce homelessness — and prevent more families from becoming homeless.
The city’s Housing Choice Vouchers program is aimed at low-income people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless and are eligible for federal help through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Ahead of his trip to Washington, Blangiardi said at a Honolulu Hale news conference Friday that he wants to make sure Honolulu “is at the front of the line” for more federal housing vouchers.
Blangiardi also plans to lobby for a separate voucher relief initiative tailored for people who benefited from the city’s Rent and Utility Relief program, which he has called “an invaluable tool” in keeping people safely housed by helping with monthly bills.
Over the past three years, the Rent and Utility Relief program proved critical to keeping tenants housed during COVID-19 and, so far, has disbursed payments directly to around 15,000 landlords, while helping over 22,000 households remain housed, according to city officials.
“Preventing local families from ever experiencing homelessness is just as important as assisting those who are already on the street,” Blangiardi said in the statement Friday.
Blangiardi said 60% of Hawaii families live paycheck- to-paycheck, which puts them at financial risk of becoming homeless.
The vouchers help “local families remain in their homes, and it deserves our full support,” he said.
The voucher program, the largest in the state, currently helps 3,980 households. But the city wants to boost the number to 6,000 households annually while also increasing the island’s inventory of affordable housing.
Like with the rental and utility subsidies, landlords receive rent payments directly through the housing voucher program.
After receiving a voucher, recipients pay 30% of their household income toward rent with government funds covering the balance.
Anton Krucky, the city’s Department of Community Services director, said the last group of 3,000 applicants was selected randomly via computer and about 100 recipients are selected for vouchers each month.
Sam Moku, the city homeless coordinator, said that while there are many efforts aimed at reducing homelessness, housing vouchers act as the “one lift” to get homeless people into permanent housing.
In 2021, a separate city voucher program called Oahu Housing Now began providing so-called “specialty vouchers” through COVID-era CARES Act funds. The program offers short-term rental assistance and social services for people to get into housing and stay housed.
So far, 312 families — and a total of 829 people — have received housing through Oahu Housing Now, and 97% of them remained housed a year later, officials said.
Jim Ireland, director of the city’s Emergency Services Department, shared a story of an 82-year-old man who worked his whole career in the hotel industry and became homeless after a death in his family.
The man, Ireland said, lived on a Ward Avenue sidewalk for almost two years and only about a week ago started accepting care through the city’s Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement program. The CORE team got the man admitted into an emergency room and then into CORE’s medical respite.
Ireland told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that once the man finishes his medical treatment and therapy, he would become eligible to receive a housing voucher.
“We need to transition him after physical therapy to some type of housing, whether it’s a kauhale or Section 8 housing, independent living,” Ireland said. “We do have to get him out of respite to make room for somebody else to get into respite.”
Ireland said he hopes that providing homeless people with different housing options — including shelters, medical respite and permanent housing through vouchers — will reduce the number of people living on the street.
