It appears the number of homeless individuals on Hawaii Island has reached its lowest point in the last six years.
That’s according to the Homeless Point-in-Time Count — a federally mandated annual snapshot of a day in the life of those without permanent shelter — conducted by the nonprofit Bridging the Gap Continuum of Care organization.
Data in the report stems from a questionnaire to unsheltered individuals starting with the survey question, “Where did you sleep the night of Monday, Jan. 22, 2024?”
The information collected is compared county to county and year to year to help stakeholders understand homelessness in their communities.
“Because each island has a distinct community, it’s important to look at each individual county’s results to get an accurate picture of homelessness in that community,” said Bridging the Gap Chair Brandee Menino. “That is especially true with the impact of the Maui fires.”
This year’s count, taken in late January, tallied 718 homeless individuals, 527 unsheltered and 191 in shelters on the Big Island. That’s a reduction of 285 people — 28% less than the 1,003 homeless individuals counted last year. It should also be noted that 2023’s count was the highest number recorded in the past seven years, 126 more people than the 869 recorded in 2018.
The only lower Big Island count in the years covered in this report was in 2019, when 690 homeless people were counted.
“We attribute the decline in homelessness to the unprecedented funding our county has allocated to homelessness and affordable housing,” said Paul Normann, chairman of Community Alliance Partners. “When donors and funders see our local government has skin in the game, it gives us leverage to attract even more funding for compassionate and effective programs.”
Kristen Alice, spokeswoman for HOPE Services in Hilo, a nonprofit providing homeless services, elaborated.
“The county assisted with programs like our medical respite beds, which help people coming out of the hospital who need a place to stay, Kealahou, our West Hawaii special needs housing … Behavioral House, with community integrated services that allow us to bill Medicaid for homeless services,” Alice said. “Then, we do intensive case management to help people with complex medical and mental health needs, and psychiatric street medicine.”
Mayor Mitch Roth said he’s “proud of the significant progress” in reducing the count.
“This decrease of 285 individuals experiencing homelessness highlights our community’s commitment to supporting our most vulnerable residents,” Roth said. “These outcomes result from coordinated efforts, including the execution of multiple grant agreements with nonprofit organizations, full utilization of federally funded housing vouchers, and the delivery of 169 affordable housing units. Our team-building efforts and collaborative approach across county departments and service providers have been instrumental in achieving these results.
“We remain dedicated to continuing this momentum, ensuring that every resident has access to safe, stable and affordable housing.”
The decrease in homelessness between 2023 and 2024 on Hawaii Island reflected in the Point-in-Time count appears to be across the board.
According to the report, unsheltered homelessness decreased by 27%, from 725 people in 2023 to 527 in 2024; sheltered homelessness decreased by 31%, from 278 people in 2023 to 191 in 2024; family homelessness decreased by 25%, from 55 families in 2023 to 41 in 2024; and military veteran homelessness decreased by 24%, from 50 veterans in 2023 to 38 in 2024.
Notably, the number of families with children experiencing homelessness has decreased by 52% since 2018.
Not surprisingly, the largest number of homeless individuals are found in South Hilo, with 252 individuals. That’s 114 more than North Kona, where 138 were counted. And 59 homeless were recorded in Puna, the third-largest total.
There was a 7% increase among the unsheltered in chronically homeless individuals — those who have been homeless for a year or more or have at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years totaling a year a more — from 269 to 288. Chronically homeless individuals in shelters went down slightly, from 49 to 48.
Among the unsheltered, 249 individuals, or 35%, reported serious mental illness, while 218, or 30%, reported chronic substance use.
Ironically, the methodology of the count led to a perceived decrease in homeless in Maui County, despite the devastating wildfire in West Maui last October that killed more than 100 people and displaced thousands who lost their homes.
Overall homelessness counts on the Valley Isle shrank by 7%, from 704 persons in 2023 to 654 in 2024.
The emergency shelters, which would normally be a part of the count, were closed before January, when the count was taken. That was noted in the report, saying that 2,328 households with 5,245 people were still sheltered in hotels and not counted.
Looking to the future, Alice said inflation poses a significant challenge for those providing homeless services.
“With the cost of everything going up, it does go up for us, too,” she said. “I think funding in the state budget was increased by 5%. I believe the True Cost Coalition was asking for a 20% increase to reflect the true cost of service delivery … for state-funded programs. We’d like to see that so we can keep up in the future.”
Concerning the future, Alice struck an optimistic note.
“I think it shows that the programs that we’re implementing work, and that the work that our team is doing is the right thing to do,” she said. “It is compassionate, and it is effective. And if we keep making the investment into programs like these, then I think we’ll continue to see these kinds of results.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com
