The county has tried to combat homelessness in recent years, but more people are living on the streets of Hilo and Kona.<\/p>\n
Nearly four years ago, the Hawai\u02bbi County Council tackled the local homeless population problem in a big way, earmarking the first funding of what would become $33 million.<\/p>\n
The results have been disappointing, and council support for the effort seems to be eroding. Last month a new request for another $6 million for outreach and other homeless programs barely made it through on a 5-4 council vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m here pondering,\u201d said Puna council member Ashley Kierkiewicz during a discussion of the latest round of homelessness funding. \u201cHas the tens of millions of dollars that Hawai\u02bbi County has invested in this program, have we actually made a dent? Are we better off as a community?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause when I\u2019m outside and I\u2019m walking through communities of downtown P\u0101hoa and downtown Hilo, it doesn\u2019t look like we\u2019re better off,\u201d she said. \u201cI have to recognize the reality of what we are seeing.\u201d <\/p>\n
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People line up for a meal at the Salvation Army facility in downtown Hilo in mid-December. Hawai\u02bbi County has committed tens of millions of dollars to try to cope with homelessness on the Big Island, but council members are frustrated that the problem seems to be getting worse. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2025)<\/p>\n
Council member Matt Kaneali\u2018i-Kleinfelder, also of Puna, added that \u201cmy expectation is, when the county puts up $30 million in three years toward addressing homelessness and housing, that the results are evident. I don\u2019t think that they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kierkiewicz and Kaneali\u2018i-Kleinfelder both voted against the most recent commitment of $6 million to fund nonprofits that work with the Big Island homeless population.<\/p>\n
The council members\u2019 views on homelessness matter because county funds for homeless programs are distributed to local nonprofits from the county\u2019s Homelessness and Housing Fund. That fund will expire in 2027 unless the council votes to extend it.<\/p>\n
Council member Heather Kimball, who represents the H\u0101m\u0101kua Coast, voted in favor of continuing the county grant funding last month but said she wants an audit to scrutinize both the details of how the county money has been spent and the effectiveness of the effort. She expects her audit proposal will come before the council later this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the public views the program as unsuccessful, if it doesn\u2019t look like on the ground any impacts have been made spending these tens of millions of tax dollars, it is going to be harder for the council politically to free up the program,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
So far, Kimball said her constituents haven\u2019t been complaining about the county funding for homeless programs \u201cbut there is this impression the situation is getting worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
The audit, she said, is not meant to be punitive: \u201cIt is really just that we need the data to determine whether or not to continue this program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drugs In The Parks<\/p>\n
The county awarded $6 million to nonprofits<\/a> in the latest grant cycle to handle tasks such as outreach to homeless persons, short-term housing and shelter, long-term housing, and support programs.<\/p>\n Another $5.14 million is budgeted for a separate package of five grants to fund the largest shelters in East and West Hawai\u02bbi as well as \u201csafe space\u201d overnight sleeping cot programs in East and West Hawai\u02bbi and a permanent supportive housing project in a county facility in Kona.<\/p>\n That package also needs council approval, and it is unclear how the members will react.<\/p>\n Kierkiewicz became heated during a hearing in December on the most recent round of grant awards, telling officials from the county Office of Housing and Community Development that \u201cI don\u2019t even know if we\u2019re helping people who really need help.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are individuals \u2014 right? \u2014 who don\u2019t want any rules, no responsibilities, they make any kine in our parks, taking shits, doing drugs, all that paraphernalia is there,\u201d Kierkiewicz said. <\/p>\n Kierkiewicz said she has accompanied park maintenance workers on their rounds, and the workers say 80% of their time is spent \u201ccleaning up other people\u2019s mess.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI get pissed off because I\u2019m a taxpayer. I\u2019m a mother. I cannot take my kids to the park anymore because I don\u2019t know what kinds of crap they\u2019re going to step on, or the kinds of people they\u2019re going to see,\u201d she said. \u201cI get plenty compassion, but I also know responsibility to community.\u201d<\/p>\n Kona council member Rebecca Villegas also raised concerns, saying the same nonprofits seem to receive county grants each cycle. They get \u201cthe lion\u2019s share of funding continuing to go to them and their programs with very little impact, quite frankly, is what I\u2019m frustrated about.\u201d<\/p>\n Brandee Menino, CEO of the homeless services provider HOPE Services Hawai\u02bbi, told Civil Beat she is approached at times by people frustrated that the homeless problem doesn\u2019t seem to be getting better.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s getting worse, for sure,\u201d said Menino, who has worked in social services on the island for 24 years. With all of the changes at the federal level posing new threats to federal funding for Medicaid, food subsidies and federal housing subsidies, she said, \u201cIt\u2019s going to get worse.\u201d<\/p>\n But Menino said the county should continue the Homelessness and Housing Fund.<\/p>\n She cited figures from Bridging the Gap Hawai\u02bbi<\/a> that show HOPE Services and other social service agencies helped 552 people transition from homelessness to permanent housing on the Big Island last fiscal year.<\/p>\n \u201cOur data shows that 74% of the people that we touch are going into housing,\u201d Menino said. \u201cPeople are staying housed when there\u2019s support.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we\u2019re doing a rock-star job at exiting people (from homelessness) and securing housing, acquiring housing, leasing housing \u2014 we\u2019re doing amazing \u2014 what the data also shows is more people are falling into homelessness,\u201d Menino said.<\/p>\n Menino cited county data showing that 80% of the homeless say they would come indoors if there were housing or shelter available. \u201cWe just don\u2019t have the housing that people can afford,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Almost half of the people moving from homelessness into housing can only do so because they receive housing subsidies, she said. <\/p>\n \u201cYou need the subsidies, you need the housing inventory,\u201d Menino said. \u201cThat\u2019s the bottleneck.\u201d<\/p>\n Struggling Nonprofits<\/p>\n Staff with the community development office sent the council reports that show they are trying to address members\u2019 concerns, including an increased focus on grants for essential services such as emergency shelters.<\/p>\n They say the county also is distributing the grants in ways that target more Big Island communities, and spreading the money around to more nonprofits.<\/p>\n But K\u0113haulani Costa, the community development administrator, told council members she has seen the nonprofits struggle when their funding is cut.<\/p>\n The county reduced or eliminated some grants this year to fund others, and when awardees lost funding, \u201cwe\u2019ve seen emergency shelter beds reduced, we\u2019re going to see outreach programs reduced because funding was not available,\u201d Costa said.<\/p>\n The county hired a consultant in 2024 to evaluate the work of the Homelessness and Housing Fund, and the consultant\u2019s report<\/a> cited the lack of \u201ctruly affordable housing\u201d on the Big Island. It opined the fund must be considered one piece of a larger, countywide strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the long term nature of the homelessness crisis, building a sustainable infrastructure and expanding the capacity of county and non-profit-providers must be a priority,\u201d according to consultant SAS Services.<\/p>\n It proposed creating a new Office of Homelessness to coordinate services, and suggested the fund continue after 2027 as a \u201cflexible funding mechanism to address the growing needs in the areas of homelessness and housing instability.\u201d<\/p>\n But given the obvious unhappiness on the council, that may not be the direction the county is headed.<\/p>\n \u201cThis process that we have for the HHF, at some point it\u2019s going to die out,\u201d Kierkiewicz said. \u201cWe never designed this to be a permanent entitlement. It was always temporary in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n Council member Dennis \u201cFresh\u201d Onishi, who represents Hilo and part of Puna, told his colleagues last month he is willing to support social service programs, \u201cbut they have to have a timeline of when they\u2019re going to stop getting money from the county.\u201d Onishi was among the five who voted in favor of the $6 million allocation.<\/p>\n They need to find their own resources to continue operations, and \u201cthat\u2019s what I don\u2019t see,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n And Kaneali\u2018i-Kleinfelder cited reports that California has spent $24 billion in five years<\/a> trying to address homelessness, yet homelessness has increased there, too.<\/p>\n \u201cI am concerned about throwing money at an issue that we\u2019re not able to fix,\u201d he said. \u201cThere has to be an outcome to spending $30 million in taxpayer funds, or we\u2019re in a bad spot.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Ashley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/251216-kf-Hilo-Homeless-Ashley-Kierkiewicz-0015-1024x682.jpg\")
Hawai\u02bbi County Council member Ashley Kierkiewicz at Kal\u0101kaua Park in Hilo. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2025)<\/p>\n
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