City and County of Honolulu

City & County of HonoluluMayor’s Housing First

ACTION PLAN

Jun YangCCH Office of Housing

Executive Director

City and County of Honolulu

Demographic of Honolulu’s Homeless Persons

Honolulu 2013 Point In Time Count

4,556 homeless persons1,465 unsheltered homeless

505 chronically homeless

Unsheltered:78% severely mentally ill55% chronic substance abusers29% both mentally ill and chronic substance abuser

City and County of Honolulu

Chronically Homeless Persons

City and County of Honolulu

Policy and Philosophy

Treatment First vs Housing First

• Transition through various levels of housing, shelters, transitional apartments

• Each move closer to independent housing• Treatment usually mandatory• Housing = Treatment

City and County of Honolulu

Elements of Housing First

City and County of Honolulu

Results of Housing First

Quincy, MA = 50% reduction over four-year period

Norfolk, VA = 40% reduction over two-year period

Denver, CO = 36% reduction of two-year period

Portland, OR = 70% reduction of two-year period

Portland, ME = 49% reduction over three-year period

Wichita, KS = 61% reduction of four-year period

City and County of Honolulu

Recommendations

1. Adopt Housing First principles to address health & safety of unsheltered homeless.

a. Implement two-year pilot at scattered sites in Downtown, Waikiki & Waianae at estimate cost of $48,000 per person annually.

b. Transition federal homeless Continuum of Care funding towards long-term Housing First implementation.

c. Adopt policy to support use of CDBG and HOME federal funds to implement Housing First.

d. Adopt policy to focus on acquisition & rehab of SRO units.

City and County of Honolulu

Recommendations

2. Leverage federal, state, community and private sector partnerships.

3. Address federal funding reductions by:a. Monitor federal updatesb. Implement cost saving measures, andc. Amend fiscal policy to support use of alternate funds

City and County of Honolulu

Recommendations

4. Benchmark goals against 2013 PIT Count to place 15% of chronically homeless persons in housing by 12/31/15

City and County of Honolulu

ACTION PLAN

Housing is one of the First Steps to TreatmentSome say it is the First Step to Treatment

768-4304jyang@honolulu.gov

Call me!