Homeless triage operation is back at Old Stadium Park

Yahoo

a day ago

The city's pop-up homeless triage operation has returned to Old Stadium Park in the McCully-Moiliili area of South King Street for the third time to provide temporary—and perhaps long-term—housing for a homeless population that grows when other enforcement occurs in nearby Diamond Head, Waikiki and Chinatown.
Honolulu's Homeless Outreach and Navigation for Unsheltered Persons—or HONU—program set up at Old Stadium Park on June 2 and was welcomed by some members of the neighborhood board and area businesses.
'At the board meetings we hear a lot of complaints, ' said Muhammad Anwar Quadri, treasurer of the McCully-Moiliili Neighborhood Board. 'It's very bad, the situation in the neighborhood, and it's still getting worse.'
He called HONU 'one of the solutions.'
Fellow board member Paul F. Robotti said the homeless population at Old Stadium Park seems to grow 'whenever they get shooed out of somewhere else because there's no place to go.
'Until we come up with a solution, we're going to have this problem, ' Robotti said. 'I'd like to see the city do more, but it's not like they're sitting on their hands.'
Old Stadium Park was the original site of HONU when the concept was launched in 2019 with state support to provide homeless services and temporary shelter around Oahu.
During the COVID-19 era, when Oahu homeless shelters had to restrict intake because of distancing requirements, HONU spent the majority of its time at Keehi Lagoon.
It's now been deployed for the 14th time after leaving 'the musubi lot ' near Kapolei Hale, where it took in 575 clients.
Out of all of the Kapolei clients, 257 were placed into shelters, 52 were reunited with family, 18 went into treatment and 21 were placed into permanent housing.
Anton Krucky, director of the city department of community services, which oversees HONU operations, agreed with residents that the Old Stadium Park homeless population fluctuates with homeless efforts in nearby communities like Waikiki, Diamond Head and Chinatown.
Six years of experience and 14 HONU deployments have shown even greater successes, he said.
It operates around the clock with off-duty Honolulu police officers providing security and five to eight case workers offering services for a range of homeless issues, including working with their families to try to reunite them, and getting them into permanent homes, Krucky said.
In its history, HONU has taken in 4, 621 homeless people and 2, 548 of them have moved off the street and into shelters or more permanent housing.
Some 21 % were reunited with their families in Hawaii or on the mainland and 5 % went into treatment—whether for substance abuse or mental health, Krucky said.
Most of the clients went from HONU into a shelter.
Notably, the typical length of stay in a HONU has dropped from 23 days to fewer than 10, suggesting clients may now be requiring less intense level of services before moving on.
Angie Knight, spokesperson for the Institute for Human Services, which operates Hawaii's largest homeless shelters, often recommends that clients living on the street check into HONU if bed space gets tight at IHS.
'At least it creates a spot for people until we have an opening, ' Knight said. 'It gets them into services, which is great.'
HONU typically sets up in city parks in response to community complaints and then moves on to another location after 90 to 120 days.
Although there may be initial community resistance, by the time HONU starts to pack up 'people don't want to see us leave, ' Krucky said.
Ryan Takayesu, one of the managers at McCully Bicycle & Sporting Goods near Old Stadium Park, said the neighborhood has grown accustomed to homeless people moving in and out of the park—and to the site of HONU operations.
'In general, there's always been that population in this area, ' Takayesu said. 'They've been here before the pop-up shelter and they'll be here after.'
BY THE NUMBERS 6 Years of operation for the city's HONU homeless triage operation.
14 Number of times HONU has been deployed around Oahu.
4, 621 Total number of homeless people served.
2, 548 Number of clients who have moved into shelters or more permanent housing.
21 Percent of clients who were reunited with their families in Hawaii or on the mainland.
Source : Anton Krucky, director of the city Department of Community Services