The Hawai‘i Community Foundation recently launched HousingASAP, a three-year, $4 million partnership that will aim to provide stable housing to homeless families faster.
The Hawai‘i Community Foundation recently launched HousingASAP, a three-year, $4 million partnership that will aim to provide stable housing to homeless families faster.
The program will do this through building a network of eight nonprofit organizations that serve families facing homelessness.
HOPE Services on the Big Island is one of the selected organizations.
“There has been a call for new ways to address the issue of homeless families in Hawaii, and for good reason,” said spokeswoman Lynelle Marble.
There are significant improvements and changes that can be made, she said. The program’s main goal is to help move more homeless families into stable housing faster, serve them quicker and keep them in their homes.
The program will work to make a significant impact in four key measures to end family homelessness: reduce time required to place families in stable housing, increase the number of families placed in stable housing, increase the number of families who remain in stable housing and develop a network of change agents and increase collaboration among organizations and providers serving homeless families.
“At HCF, we have successfully implemented similar partnership approaches to shift thinking and improve the delivery of services,” said Kelvin Taketa, president and CEO of HCF. “When individuals and organizations are brought together as a network, their learning leapfrogs, getting them to a better level, faster. We plan to bring this experience to the homelessness arena to make a difference in a rapidly changing environment.”
Through an application process, HCF selected eight organizations from across the state best positioned to make the transformation needed.
Collectively, these organizations represent half of the beds available for homeless families in Hawaii.
They are Alternative Structures International, Catholic Charities Hawaii, Family Life Center Inc. (Maui), Family Promise of Hawaii, HOPE Services Hawaii Inc. (Hawaii Island), Institute for Human Services Inc., United States Veterans Initiative and Waikiki Health.
“We’re pleased to be a part of HousingASAP and are looking forward to building a strong network that will help us to prepare for the new delivery of service to families who are homeless,” said Gladys Peraro, executive director of United States Veterans Initiative.
“We realize that we cannot tackle this issue alone and will be able to make a greater difference if we collaborate and share information. In the end, it will make each of our organizations more effective and we can help more families.”
Visit www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org for more information..