Our model works
It would cost more than $7 million to build a shelter of comparable capacity and $2 million annually to operate it.
Unlike other houseless people, village residents do not rely on the ambulance and ER for primary healthcare. Queen’s Medical Center sees 2,400 unnecessary ambulance rides per year, mostly from urban houseless people, at $1,000 per ride or $2.4M annually.
An ambulance is called to the village fewer than 12 times a year because people are stable enough to visit their physician regularly, refill prescriptions, and make doctor's appointments before things become an emergency.
Village leaders serve as intermediaries for social services, welfare agencies, law enforcement, and others, saving countless labor hours and tax dollars normally spent trying to find and serve houseless people.
The village has helped more than 20 families get into housing over the past 6 months, without taking up space in temporary shelters or transitional housing.
Hawaiʻi real estate is marketed around the world and home prices have soared out of reach for working families. Affordable housing takes too long and is too expensive to build with conventional models of development. Shelters have time limits of only 90 days.
With nearly half of Hawaiʻi families unable to afford basic necessities, we face some daunting questions: Is Hawaiʻi to be a place only for the rich? How are people to live here, when jobs don't cover the cost of living?
Puʻuhonua O Waiʻanae shows that community provides an answer to Hawaiʻi’s—and maybe the nation’s—affordable housing crisis.
Everyone has a role to play in Puʻuhonua O Waiʻanae. If you don’t have a job, that doesn’t mean you’re worthless—you can still do your part.
Maybe your part is looking after keiki (children) while parents are at work, cooking meals for other families, tending to our gardens, beautifying the park next door or cleaning the public restroom there.
The answers come not from the agencies, but from ʻohana.
A more communal way of living is more affordable and more sustainable. Shared kitchens, bathrooms, and gathering spaces save on development costs and materials. Shared kuleana for security, groundskeeping and maintenance means lower operating costs and lower rent. A group commitment to growing food, conserving resources, or investing in solar can cut monthly bills.
Many people in Puʻuhonua O Waiʻanae work, but even if you don’t have a job, you have a purpose. Living in a village helps people rediscover that purpose. Community is an asset.
