In a prepared statement Friday the county said it has been in discussions with the state to have land set aside for a project that would focus on permanent supportive housing to transition those residents without housing into a more stable arrangement in line with housing-first principles.
In a prepared statement Friday the county said it “has been in discussions with the state to have land set aside for a project that would focus on permanent supportive housing to transition those residents without housing into a more stable arrangement in line with housing-first principles.”
During the 2018 state legislative session, money to mitigate the houseless epidemic across the state was appropriated, commonly referred to as “ohana zone” funding. However, the money can only be used on state or county lands.
Monies are currently being distributed by the state Department of Human Services pursuant to two emergency proclamations that have been issued by Gov. David Ige.
At the July 26 state Board of Land and Natural Resoruces meeting, the board authorized a set-aside of a portion of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Pua Loke Park in Lihue. The idea behind the set-aside is for the county to have the lands necessary to construct permanent supportive housing and receive ohana zone funding.
“To date, we are still in the process of subdividing the state parcel, and also inking agreements to receive the ohana zone funding. It is Mayor Kawakami’s intent to look at Kahauiki Village (on Oahu) as a model to pull best practices from, and apply them to this particular opportunity.”
