HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	239
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

urging Stage agencies and interested parties to work together to develop strategies to limit homelessness and assist the existing homeless individuals in windward oahu.

WHEREAS, homelessness continues to be one of the biggest issues facing our State with many of the historically affordable districts experiencing the effects of redevelopment, and residents continue to earn less than the national average income; and

WHEREAS, as efforts to provide aid to the homeless continue, it is important to provide a solution for afflicted individuals that results in permanent sheltering, or provide a process to obtain permanent sheltering to avoid relocating homeless individuals to other districts; and

WHEREAS, beds in homeless shelters are frequently left unattended, with recent reports saying that, on average, there are 550 beds left unattended each night; and

WHEREAS, a comparison between the 2016 and 2017 Homeless Persons Point-In-Time Count reports show a 3 percent decrease in sheltered individuals and a 3 percent increase in unsheltered individuals; and

WHEREAS, the 2017 Annual Homeless Persons Point-In-Time Count report showed that the total homeless persons count on Oahu went up 0.9 percent from 2016, with the Waianae and East Honolulu regions experiencing decreases of 22 percent and 29 percent respectively, and the five remaining regions experiencing increases in homelessness, with the largest of those increases in the Windward region; and

WHEREAS, of the five regions that saw increases, the upper and lower Windward areas experienced a 156 percent increase, which is 62 percent higher than the combined increases in the remaining three regions; and

WHEREAS, recent strategies, implemented through public-private partnerships, have addressed the urgency to provide housing, and in six months have successfully moved more than 30 families into permanent housing by focusing on childhood support services and family engagement programs; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2018, the Senate concurring, that the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, the Director of Human Services, the Kailua Neighborhood Board, the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board, the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board, the Koolauloa Neighborhood Board, the Kahuku Neighborhood Board, the Institute for Human Services, and appropriate non-profit organizations are urged to work together to develop strategies to limit homelessness and assist the existing homeless individuals in Windward Oahu; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, the Director of Human Services, the Chair of the Kailua Neighborhood Board, the Chair of the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board, the Chair of the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board, the Chair of the Koolauloa Neighborhood Board, the Chair of the Kahuku Neighborhood Board, and the Board President of the Institute for Human Services.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Homelessness; Windward Oahu