City and County of Honolulu City & County of Honolulu Mayor’s Housing First ACTION PLAN Jun Yang CCH 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 persons 1,465 unsheltered homeless 505 chronically homeless Unsheltered: 78% severely mentally ill 55% chronic substance abusers 29% 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 updates b.Implement cost saving measures, and c.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 Treatment Some say it is the First Step to Treatment Call me!