Family Promise of Hawaii officially unveiled Thursday its new facility on Young Street, designed to provide both emergency shelter and comprehensive support services for families experiencing homelessness.

Located at 2106 Young St., the facility combines interim housing with on-site case management, wraparound services, connections to housing resources and space for community partners and volunteers.

The facility, called the ‘Ohana Navigation Center, which opened into the holiday season, will serve hundreds of children, parents and family members annually, helping prevent and end homelessness.

The ‘Ohana Navigation Center will permanently house FPH’s emergency shelter program and offer additional services, such as housing navigation, rental assistance, financial coaching and workforce development.

The center serves families of any size or composition, including single-parent, two-parent and multigenerational families, with no cost for the services provided.

“It’s more than a shelter,” Gov. Josh Green said. “This is a place where people will transform. They will have the ability to have private space. They will have the ability to calmly settle in before they go in to permanent housing; they will have meals together.

“You can see this space is quite something, and they have access to other things, like maybe they can have a little space to study and get ready for their next job. So their lives can transform, and they can take on this independent path to permanent housing.”

According to FPH, children under age 1 are more likely to experience homelessness than any other age group in the U.S., followed by children ages 1-5.

In Hawaii an estimated 1 in 30 young children experience homelessness each year. FPH provides emergency shelter, case management and wraparound services to families with children, helping them quickly transition to stable housing or avoid entering the shelter system altogether.

The center can house up to six families at a time, with an estimated 192 children, parents and family members benefiting annually. Each family has their own room, and units are already fully occupied at this time.

FPH Executive Director Ryan Catalani shared with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the property was acquired for $2.4 million — marking the first property acquisition in the organization’s history.

Funding came from several sources, including the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, State of Hawaii Grant in Aid and multiple foundations.

Renovations began in the summer, and as rooms became available, FPH began housing families immediately due to high demand.

The facility’s official opening was marked Thursday, even though families already had been housed for months. The center is staffed with two full-time case managers or family support coordinators, with annual maintenance and staffing costs estimated between $200,000 and $300,000.

The property includes five units — four upstairs and one downstairs — that can house up to 20 people at a time, with at least two people per unit.

Families stay in the interim housing, which is officially classified as emergency shelter by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, for an average of about 100 days. During this time they work with case managers to access resources, find jobs and transition to permanent housing.

Each unit is equipped with a bathroom, microwave, rice cooker, air-conditioning unit, working space and fridge. Most of the supplies, including cleaning products, food and diapers, are donated, with FPH purchasing additional items when necessary.

Eddie Kiluwe moved to Hawaii from the Marshall Islands earlier this year with his wife, who recently gave birth to their daughter.

Kiluwe shared that they stayed in the hospital for about three months and struggled to find housing, or a job due to licensing issues at the Department of Motor Vehicles. They eventually found FPH, which immediately provided them with housing as they transitioned out of Kapi‘olani Medical Center.

The family of Kiluwe, with his wife and nearly 6-month-old daughter, is one of the first to receive shelter, case management and wraparound support at the new ‘Ohana Navigation Center.

Their baby has medical conditions, and the center is one of the only places where their entire family can remain together in their own room, providing them with a clean and safe space to get back on their feet.

The Kiluwe family has lived on the second floor of the center for the past three months and is hopeful about transitioning out soon.

On Thursday, Kiluwe told the Star-Advertiser that he hoped to land a job interview Friday after resolving the issues with the DMV.

Family homelessness on Oahu has risen by 19% in the past year, according to the annual Point-in-Time Count conducted by Partners in Care.

In response, Family Promise of Hawaii has seen a 44% increase in calls for assistance.

The new ‘Ohana Navigation Center is already serving infants, addressing the growing need for support among the most vulnerable populations.

“The ‘Ohana Navigation Center will end homelessness annually for close to 200 children, parents and family members,” Catalani said. “Family Promise of Hawaii works to prevent and end homelessness for about 2,000 individuals, or over 700 families, each year.”