Key Focus Areas

  • Housing First
    ‘Housing First’ is an approach to ending homelessness that emphasizes rapid placement into permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness.  To learn more, click here.
  • Outreach Programs
    Homeless outreach programs connect unsheltered individuals and families, and provide linkages to critical services – including housing navigation, shelter, assistance with obtaining documents and other vital records, and more. To learn more, click here.
  • Shelter Facilities
    To learn more about emergency and transitional shelter, including viewing a list of shelters statewide, click here.
  • Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD)
    LEAD is a program designed to divert low-level offenders from citation and/or arrest, and increase connections to harm reduction based, individualized case management.  To learn more, click here.
  • Ohana Zone Funded Projects
    In 2018, the Hawaii State Legislature passed Act 209, which appropriated $30M in `Ohana Zone funds to address homelessness statewide.  To learn more, click here.
  • Landlord Engagement
    There is an urgent need for landlords to step forward and assist in efforts to house individuals who are homeless, displaced, or at imminent risk of homelessness.   To learn more about landlord engagement efforts, as well as advocacy to promote Source of Income discrimination protections in Hawaii, click here.
  • Monthly Webinars
    The Governor’s Coordinator on Homelessness convenes monthly webinar sessions on topics related to homelessness and behavioral health, including topics specific to providing these services in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.  To learn more, click here.
  • Proclamations
    In October 2015, and again December 2018, Governor David Ige issued a series of emergency proclamations to accelerate and enhance efforts to address homelessness statewide.  To learn more, click here.
  • Data
    There are multiple data sets used to evaluate the work to address homelessness, including the Point in Time count, Exits to Permanent Housing, Housing Inventory Count, and McKinney-Vento Homeless Student Enrollment data.   To learn more, click here.
  • Hawaii Interagency Council on Homelessness
    The HICH is an advisory body modeled after the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which serves as a statewide homelessness planning and policy development entity with broad representation from State and County government and the community.  To learn more, click here.