Statewide Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions (OHHS)

Advocacy on legislative matters can be overwhelming and it can be difficult to know where to start. Our office’s practicum students from the UH School of Social Work & Public Health have put together helpful navigation guides for each of the four County Council websites. Please check out your County Council’s website navigation guide to learn how you can get involved in legislation at the local level.

Policy advocacy is a key part of the State’s approach to addressing homelessness and housing instability statewide.   To support advocacy efforts, the Hawaii Interagency Council on Homelessness (HICH) adopts policy priorities annually at its December quarterly meeting, and the Governor’s Coordinator on Homelessness and staff convene meetings with stakeholders from both Continua of Care – on Oahu and the neighbor islands – to discuss advocacy priorities and identify emerging issues.

The priorities adopted by the HICH for calendar year 2022 take into account the long-term economic and social impacts of COVID-19, the potential to maximize impact of one-time federal resource infusions, as well as implementation of a multi-disciplinary approach to address homelessness and factors that lead people to become homeless.   The three identified priorities for 2022 are:

1. Promote affordable housing for people transitioning from homelessness. 
2. Reduce upfront barriers to accessing existing rental housing inventory. 
3. Support policies and programs that assist key homeless sub-populations with transitioning to stable, long-term settings.

Additionally, the HICH is supportive of advocacy at the County level in addition to at the State legislature.  To support County-level advocacy efforts, the HICH staff and student interns developed the four County Council Navigation Guides highlighted above.

For more information, including guidance regarding advocacy at the Hawaii State Legislature, please check out the additional resources listed below: