The city bought the Waikiki Vista on Kapiolani Boulevard for $37.75 million in November 2022, with the expectation of converting the building, previously used for a dormitory and classrooms, to affordable housing. Early on, Waikiki Vista was targeted for Housing First development, available with few barriers to move-in. Tenants would be accepted who were unemployed or employed with limited incomes, homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Today, the building houses Honolulu’s newest “family kauhale” community, sheltering adults and children, Mayor Rick Blangiardi and Gov. Josh Green announced at a news conference last week. The first-of-its-kind high-rise kauhale began providing emergency shelter and transitional housing in April, with a program administered by Catholic Charities on four floors of the building. In addition, five floors of “bridge” affordable housing units for low-income residents are offered, administered by Housing Solutions, Inc.

The adaptation of Waikiki Vista into a family kauhale marks a significant step forward in providing affordable, accessible housing on Oahu, where the greatest need exists.

This kind of housing for families in transition, with services on site, is desperately needed on Oahu — as evidenced by an American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii (ACLU) lawsuit filed over the city’s practice of sweeping homeless encampments. The suit just ended with all claims dismissed, but homeless advocates continue to press for supportive housing for all who need stable shelter. The city’s aggressive moves to expand Housing First opportunities in response are proper, and must be continued.

At Waikiki Vista, the blending of families with different levels of need — with some transitioning from homelessness, some working and others receiving assistance that can set them on a path to financial independence — is beneficial. The more diversity of income levels, the better. With future developments, the state and city would do well to integrate households with incomes both below and at median levels, as all families along the income spectrum stand to benefit from interaction with a diverse range of people.

It’s cause for celebration that Waikiki Vista can shelter more than 80 families or 270 people, both adults and children, providing safe, stable and even “therapeutic” housing, as Green termed it, but also that city and state governments can efficiently partner to move projects like this forward relatively quickly, in comparison to other complex public endeavors. The property has moved from purchase to move-in within two years, outpacing the installation of some targeted “tiny home” kauhale.

Waikiki Vista also has become the first-ever permanent home and rehearsal space for the Royal Hawaiian Band, with quarters on the building’s ninth floor. This kind of creative blending of functions, if well-planned, helps grow a better Honolulu. Additional housing that is integrated within neighborhoods, rather than “projects” that isolate or separate low-income families, are typically safer and healthier for communities.

Waikiki Vista is just one of 20 homeless kauhale coming online for the state, according to John Mizuno, the state’s homeless coordinator. The next, at a former First Hawaiian Bank site on North King Street, will be unveiled in August, offering 34 medical triage beds and respite services inside, as well as a 30-unit tiny-home kauhale.

The push must continue, as with the city’s Iwilei Center, planned to offer 100 shelter beds and homeless services, and the state’s Behavioral Health Crisis Center, providing low-barrier emergency shelter with 24-hour services. Such multi-agency efforts will be necessary until no child or adult in Hawaii is forced to sleep in the dirt or in a doorway.