Expect another “ta-DAH” announcement any day from city hall about yet another solution to the homeless problem. Oops, do I mean homeless issue? Has problem become politically incorrect? I don’t expect another of those city government lightning strikes to replace tents with flower planters, or haul the last pitiful possessions of people away as trash; even a political entity must reach some threshold of shame.
It will probably be about launching another effort based on the “housing first” model that has succeeded in some Mainland cities, an idea that fizzled in the previous city administration because a plan to build housing for the homeless infuriated prospective neighbors in Chinatown.
A new “housing first” initiative is already quietly underway without benefit of a press conference. It’s not about unveiling drawings of some structure to be completed in the future when homeless numbers are even higher.
Somewhere out there on the streets of Honolulu this and every week there’s a strike force with the goal of getting people off the streets. I’m talking about the field staffers of Catholic Charities Hawaii whose job is to find apartments available for reasonable rent and to persuade landlords to take the leap of faith to accept a tenant who has been living on the street. One landlord at a time, one unit at a time and, to be honest, one iffy prospective tenant at a time.
Once a formerly homeless person gets a roof over his or her head, that’s when the support troops come into their lives, social workers and counselors to help deal with the mental health and substance abuse problems that separated them from the community. Help with finding jobs, managing money and other needs will be offered.
That in a nutshell is the Hawaii Pathways Project, a collaboration of two non-profit agencies aided by some government money. Helping Hands Hawaii will provide health services with a $1.1 million grant of federal funds administered by the State Department of Health.
Catholic Charities Hawaii
The two-year pilot program with a catchy title is new, but the fundamental work of matching poor and needy people with housing and social services is a key part of the mission of Catholic Charities Hawaii.
The non-profit agency has operated Maili Land for more than 20 years. Homeless families literally move from living on the beach into the 43-unit transitional housing complex. They may stay for 18 months, while the children go to school, the adults get job training and support in dealing with health, money management and other needs.
Catholic Charities also administers Hale Hoaloha, a 12-unit apartment building on its Makiki campus. Low income people pay a small rent, which gives them a chance to save money and get on their feet during the 18-month maximum tenancy. They also have access to the social workers and counselors.
And then there’s the three senior group homes, where five people share a house, the space as well as the chores. They share the rent, a way to keep low income people from crossing the margin into homelessness. The agency also operates a group home for teenage boys who have “aged out” of foster care and need mentoring to develop skills to get a job, handle money, survive in the adult working world.
“There are so many homeless and at-risk people,” said Jerry Rauckhorst, president and CEO of Catholic Charities Hawaii. “Even with all that is being done, there is so much more required. The commitment is there from the providers. It has to be there from the government, too.
“There has been a lot of momentum, and challenges to that momentum,” Rauckhorst said. “There is the frustration of the Waikiki business community.”
One of the reasons I like writing about this multi-faceted, community-wide service agency that carries the church’s name is that it also puts “Charity” on the public marquee.
In catechism class, we memorized the three theological virtues and in the liturgy from time to time, we hear St. Paul preaching to the Corinthians about “faith, hope and charity … and the greatest of these is charity.”
Advice for the tourism industry
But you don’t hear the concept of charity popping up in the dialogue about homeless people. They are a “problem” that needs to be “resolved.” The growing total headcount is a headline. Letters to the editor suggest herding them away out of sight. We increasingly hear government talk about using police power against them. For sure you won’t hear charity mentioned by the tourist industry which is the driving force behind increasingly mean-spirited political action and media coverage about the homeless.
Forgive me if I’ve missed it, but what have tourism businesses contributed to help the people they see as a problem in their playground world? Funding for feeding, housing or health care? Even a little investment in public toilets and showers that would benefit their own paying customers? A disclaimer: I confess to a grudge dating back to government construction of the convention center; paid for by taxpayers, it should have been by the hotel corporations.
I want to suggest a role model for the tourism industry, just the kind of patron saint the corporation moguls could love. A brilliant businessman, his real estate holdings keep his Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation among the top 20 landowners in Hawaii even now, 24 years after his death.
The Weinberg Foundation, with assets of over $2 billion, donates about $100 million to charity each year. Its grants are “focused on meeting basic needs such as shelter, nutrition, health and socialization and on enhancing an individual’s ability to meet those needs,” according to the foundation’s web page. The foundation’s largesse benefits organizations in Weinberg’s hometown, Baltimore, and elsewhere. Hawaii was specifically designated by Weinberg to benefit and local charities receive grants totaling about $20 million annually, ranging from matching funds for major construction projects to small grants that sustain programs of community groups.
The names of Harry and his wife Jeannette grace at least 100 buildings in Hawaii, a requirement whenever the foundation provides more than $250,000. So you’ll see the Weinberg name at hospitals, school grounds, and all manner of social service agencies. Catholic Charities Hawaii’s Hale Hoaloha bears the name.
One of the longest exposures of the name is on Holomua Na Ohana Weinberg Village in Waimanalo, which was dedicated by the state nearly 20 years ago. It houses formerly homeless families with minor children in 30 recycled portable classrooms. Families pay a monthly fee for the housing and social services during their two-year maximum stay at the site.
Several small non-profits occupy the Weinberg Center on Kukui Street, an area densely populated by people living on the street. One of my favorite homeless-nurturing support organizations is headquartered there. Since it started in 2006, Family Promise of Hawaii has recruited churches and temples of several persuasions to take turns hosting homeless families rent-free, giving the parents time to hunt for work and save money for rent. Each host congregation will house 14 people — one to four families at a time — in a church facility for a week, then families move on to another host congregation.
Besides two networks of host churches, at least 28 other faith congregations cook meals, donate clothes and hygiene items, and spend time with the families. The whole thing is designed to keep the hospitality commitment from becoming overwhelming for any one congregation.
The average stay for a family is three months but “they think of us as their home base,” said Christy MacPherson of Family Promise. “We keep hearing back from the families, whether it’s good news or another crisis.”
Moral act as religious duty
There’s a whole lot more I wanted to say about the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation. How many dollars did you give in grants to Hawaii causes in the past year? What’s the total since the charitable spigot was turned on after the 1990 death of Harry Weinberg, who was best known as the creator of an island-wide transit system which became The Bus? Exactly how many buildings do bear his name? What are some of the highlights funded recently?
A few facts leaked out in stories years ago in the former Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Hawaii Business magazine, and I’ve borrowed from them.
But as for publicity, we don’t do that anymore, the foundation’s local grant director Gailene Wong told me. The foundation trustee in Hawaii, Alvin Awaya, shies away from the spotlight. The national foundation corporate communications guy in Maryland didn’t respond to queries.
But that’s okay, nevermind the facts. I had a scriptural punchline in mind anyway. Who hasn’t quoted the saying “Don’t let the right hand know what the left hand is doing”? I’ve heard it misinterpreted as a description of questionable behavior. Nope, that’s not it.
It’s straight out of the mouth of Jesus when he was charging the disciples to understand the point of being charitable. Those Jewish men, like Harry Weinberg, would understand the concept of a mitzvah, a moral act that is performed as a religious duty.
According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said: “When you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.
“But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
