April 17, 2008
New homes, new hope
There’s a building boom in my neighborhood. It’s been a long time coming. We were told many years ago that a vacant government tract adjacent to our homes was being transferred from military ownership to the Department of Hawaiian Homelands. There have been numerous brush fires there over the years. No one was interested in keeping out the schoolchildren who were starting the fires because the property was “in transition” and would soon be someone else’s problem. About a year and a half ago we were told that plans were finally being made to develop the property. A transitional housing project would be built to move several hundred homeless people off of the beaches. One and two-bedroom apartments, a daycare center, job training facilities and other community services would prepare them for reintegration into a more “normal” lifestyle than the one they were living. Homelessness is at crisis levels, so the project was fast-tracked and scheduled for completion in six to eight months.
Community hearings and government red tape delayed the start of the project, but several months ago we began seeing some activity. The area was cleared of brush and graded. Water has been run into the property. Just recently the building began and it’s moving along rapidly. We’ll soon be seeing new neighbors move in, probably before the end of the summer. There’s some controversy, of course. The value of our homes will probably take a hit. Additional phases of building have been tacked on, which many of us think will lead to the creation of a getto community. For right now, though, I see this first phase as a good thing. Druggies, the criminal element and those with mental problems, who make up a large percentage of the beach population, will not be eligible for this project. It’s reserved for families who have been squeezed out of the housing market by our ridiculously high cost of living. They’ll stay in the transitional center while the second phase of the project develops affordable housing for them. Some of them will have a roof over their heads for the first time in many years. Children who have never lived indoors will finally have real homes. Whatever the problems that we’ll all need to face later, what’s going on right now will provide the best kind of tangible help for people living in dire circumstances. I see that as cause for celebration.
[tags]Hawaii, homelessness, paverty, transitional housing[/tags]
Posted by skeet @ 5:28 pm • current events
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April 18th, 2008 at 9:24 am, Whim Says:
Me too! Here’s to helping those who far too often fall through the cracks.
April 19th, 2008 at 4:17 pm, skeet Says:
We are having our annual homeowners association meeting next week, Whim. I’m hoping there won’t be a lot of ugliness about the new housing, but I think there probably will.