Hawaii County on Friday awarded more than $10 million to various Big Island nonprofits to fight homelessness, but not without hours of debate before the County Council.
The county’s Office of Housing and Community Development awarded 15 grants totalling $10.1 million to nine organizations through its Homelessness and Housing Fund, which was established in 2022. But after years of grants, some council members asked what has been the return on the county’s investment.
Kona Councilwoman Rebecca Villegas said some programs funded through the grants this year spend up to 90% of their awarded funds on employee salaries. She pointed to the four grants awarded to nonprofit Neighborhood Place of Puna — which totaled more than $3 million — and noted that between 82% and 90% of each grant “goes to paying the people running the program.”
“I find this incredibly concerning,” Villegas said. “This money is to put roofs over people’s heads. This money is to get people off our streets. I tend to be very value-driven, but … how much money is being spent without effective results?”
On the other hand, Hilo Councilwoman Jenn Kagiwada argued that for a service-oriented program, spending 90% on employees is a sign of a good program.
“It’s a service-oriented program, and it needs to have people. That’s the core of the program,” Kagiwada said. “Putting money towards the people that are doing the work every day on the streets, that’s actually really good to have a high number.”
But other council members said the county deserves an accounting of how these nonprofits have materially helped address homelessness.
“We’ve thrown … two years, $16 million at homeless, housing-based services, and I drove around Hilo today and asked, what have we accomplished?” said Puna Councilman Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder. “I don’t know that I could spot the difference.
“Are we getting the bang for our buck? Are we getting the results that we want?” Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder went on, wondering aloud whether there has been any meaningful change in the number of calls for service to the county police and fire departments.
Villegas said that some projects, such as Neighborhood Place of Puna’s Coordination Center — which helps connect homeless people with services and received a $782,000 grant this year — merely end up bouncing homeless people between various providers without actually helping them.
“I just don’t think spending ($782,000) for 2,300 phone calls is an effective use of money,” Villegas said. “People are on the street. They need help. I want to see more beds, I want to see more shelters, I want to see more action, not more data collection.”
The grant awards had already generated controversy at a prior council meeting on Jan. 22. At that time, Charis Higginson, founder of West Hawaii nonprofit Humanity Hale, claimed that her proposal for a transitional youth housing program had been stolen by Neighborhood Place of Puna.
Higginson said she had attended a meeting with former OHCD division manager Sharon Hirota and Neighborhood Place of Puna Executive Director Paul Norman in March 2024, whereupon Higginson proposed her youth housing program.
Higginson said Hirota subsequently told her that funding was not available for her program, but Neighborhood Place of Puna ended up receiving a $387,455 grant for its Anchor Point Youth Program, which is functionally similar.
While Norman has stated that the Anchor Point concept came from Neighborhood Place’s own outreach, Higginson said on Jan. 22 that she is prepared to take legal action and can prove that the Anchor Point funding was secured under false pretenses.
In the face of this allegation, the council moved on Jan. 22 to postpone the matter until these questions could be resolved.
But an investigation into that matter evidently turned up other discrepancies in the Homelessness and Housing Fund awardals.
County Housing Administrator Kehau Costa presented at a special council meeting Friday a revised budget for the grant awards. While the original proposed awards would have totaled an even $10.5 million, Costa said some administrative errors had led to incorrectly high awards for some nonprofits, which were cut in the revised budget.
In particular, the nonprofit Men of Pa‘a had its grant for “a holistic approach to reintegration, recovery and housing” slashed by nearly $300,000, down from $875,000 to $577,847. Other cuts ranged from about $3,700 to $20,000.
Costa explained that Men of Pa‘a’s original proposal was to acquire housing, something not permitted via the grant funds. Therefore, the proposal changed to a cheaper master lease proposal, but the reduction in expenses was not reflected in the original budget.
Other factors complicated the grant awardals. Costa said the county’s request for proposals from nonprofits had stated that any program could only spend up to 15% of the funds awarded on administrative expenses. However, a County Code change after that request went out stipulates that only 10% of grant funds can cover administrative expenses, and every awardee had to amend their proposals to reflect the nebulous differentiation between administrative and program costs.
The Anchor Point grant remained the same in the revised budget.
Aside from several testifiers urging the council to reject the funds to Neighborhood Place of Puna, the only other reference made Friday to Higginson’s accusations against Neighborhood Place of Puna was by county Auditor Tyler Benner, who said his office has reached out to OHCD for additional meetings on the subject.
The council voted 6-3 to award the grants, with Villegas, Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder and Council Chair Holeka Inaba voting against.
The grants awarded were:
• $1.2 million to the Big Island Substance Abuse Council for its Hulihia Ke Ola detox and treatment center.
• $250,000 to the Big Island Substance Abuse Council for its Mohala Family Resource Center.
• $537,061 to Bridge House, Inc. for its Recovery Housing Program.
• $847,561.60 to Going Home Hawaii for its Re-entry and Recovery Housing Program. Cut from an initial budget of $867,715.
• $1.142 million to HOPE Services Hawaii for its West Hawaii Emergency Housing Program. Cut from an initial budget of $1.147 million.
• $575,205.17 to HOPE Services Hawaii for its Hale Maluhia Emergency Center. Cut from an initial budget of $578,965.
• $885,196.31 to HOPE Services Hawaii for its Keolahou Emergency Shelter and Hale Kulike Permanent Supportive Housing Program. Cut from an initial budget of $896,225.
• $261,000 to Lokahi Treatment Centers for its Recovery and Housing Stability Program.
• $577,847 to Men of Pa‘a for its Ho‘okanaka Reentry program. Cut from an initial budget of $875,000.
• $685,449 to Neighborhood Place of Puna for its Ohana Homelessness Prevention and Support Program.
• $782,289 to Neighborhood Place of Puna for its Coordination Center. Cut from an initial budget of $794,289.
• $1.2 million to Neighborhood Place of Puna for its Homeless Engagement Team.
• $387,455 to Neighborhood Place of Puna for its Anchor Point Youth Program.
• $367,138 to Project Vision Hawaii for its Street Outreach from Hilo to Kona program.
• $424,675.40 to the Salvation Army Family Intervention Services for its Transitional Housing Program. Cut from an initial budget of $437.391.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
