Homelessness On Oʻahu: ‘Pretty Big Change’ In Sheltered Count

Oʻahu's homeless population remains stubbornly high at more than 4,500 people, but a greater proportion of that group is living in shelter compared to two years ago, according to a new report.

The latest numbers, released on Wednesday, come from a census done in January by the homelessness coalition group Partners In Care. The report shows a 20% drop in unsheltered people since 2024 and the 35% increase in those who are sheltered.

“Even though we saw just a tiny increase in the number of overall folks, we see a pretty big change within the unsheltered and the sheltered counts,” Anna Pruitt, director of the Office of Poverty Research and Action at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa, said while presenting the report.

Read more: ‘It’s Just Tiring’: 24 Hours Inside Hawai‘i’s Homeless Crisis

In a statement on Wednesday, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said he sees the report as an indication that government programs aimed at getting people off the street are working.

“The results of this Point-In-Time count are extraordinarily encouraging and a reflection of the dedication and determination of our teams who are confronting homelessness directly, with a deep sense of compassion and urgency,” he said. “It is vitally important that we continue to fund initiatives that have a proven track record.”

The mayor pointed to increased coordination between the city, the state and providers in recent years, including on addressing chronically homeless people with several mental illnesses. More than 50 people have gone through a program called MH-3 that aims to steer that population to treatment rather than jail, and 14 have transitioned to more stable, long-term housing, according to the city.

Data from the Point-In-Time Count is imperfect, Pruitt said. And some datapoints are missing. In-person counts of the unsheltered population didn't happen last year or in 2021. But the trends help decision-makers ensure that the programs offered align with people’s needs. Finding out how many homeless people have pets, she said as an example, can help them determine whether there’s enough program capacity to serve those people.

The data shows that many homeless people are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Individuals identifying as Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone made up about 43% of the homeless population despite making up only 10% of the island’s overall population. The proportion of homeless people who are Hawaiian or Pacific Islander rose to 63% when Partners In Care factored in people who are multiracial. 

About half of unsheltered Native Hawaiians indicated they are eligible for Hawaiian homelands, housing lots for Native Hawaiians over the age of 18 with at least 50% Hawaiian ancestry. There are more than 29,000 people on the waitlist for a lot.

More: Hawaiʻi Is Reviving A Risky Play To Get Hawaiians Into Homes

Unsheltered veterans saw a big decline, dropping 39% since the last count in 2024. During Wednesday’s presentation, Partners In Care executive director Laura Thielen said veterans are a transient group and so a priority is relocating them back to the mainland.

She also addressed the homeless keiki population, which the report shows has grown. The number of homeless children increased 43% since a decade low point in 2022, according to the report. This year, 802 homeless keiki were counted. While most were found in shelters, 92 were not.

Thielen said it’s unclear exactly why the homeless keiki population is growing, but she guessed it might be related to federal cuts to domestic violence programs.

“While we can’t draw an exact relation to this,” she said, “I think it’s safe to say that the more programs that we have that are focused on families will really help to drive this number back down."

The data shows 19% of homeless people are kūpuna aged 60 or older, and their population increased by 45%, though Pruitt said there was missing age data during the last count. Connie Mitchell, executive director of the Institute for Human Services, said even before the data came out, her team had noticed a trend of older adults making up a larger portion of the island’s homeless population.

“We’re seeing more people who are becoming homeless for the first time,” she said in an interview Tuesday. Older residents who may have worked all their lives are now faced with an escalating cost of living.

“They’re on fixed incomes, and the price of housing is going up,” she said, “so they’re not able to afford it anymore.” 

Thielen said this is a priority group, and that many seniors who become homeless don’t know how to find services and resources on their own. 

Speaking before the data was released, Mitchell said she expected the sheltered population to increase. She said more beds have been added to the island’s supply since the last count, especially in the form of Gov. Josh Green’s tiny home kauhale program.

She also said people with medical conditions have been making up a larger share of the homeless population.

“There’s a lot of people that really don’t have a primary care physician, or they don’t go to see them very often,” Mitchell said. City officials have tried to respond to this by creating spaces designed for people with medical issues.

This year, however, the state cut funding that would have provided $5 million for ʻAʻala Respite and $3 million for Homeless Outreach and Navigation for Unsheltered Persons program, or HONU, which operates in city parks. HONU works to direct unsheltered people to resources for their specific situations, while ʻAʻala Respite aims to provide a safe place for homeless people with medical issues who need medical treatment or a space to recover.

The House and Senate failed to reach an agreement on Senate Bill 2803, a broader homelessness bill that included funding for city programs, during conference committee, a final negotiation period between the two chambers at the end of each session that’s notorious for being a time when bills die. 

“So that’s where we ended up with no funding for our homeless programs,” Rep. Lisa Marten said, “which I thought was really a tragedy.”

Scott Miscovich, the doctor in charge of managing ʻAʻala Medical Respite and a member of the mayor’s weekly homelessness meetings, told Civil Beat he’s not worried about the city cutting operations at his facility. 

“I am being told that they will continue,” he said, a point that was corroborated by Anton Krucky, whose Department of Community Services oversees both ʻAʻala Respite and HONU.

ʻAʻala Respite’s current contract goes through October and is already set in stone, Krucky said. But because state funding makes up ʻAʻala’s entire budget, he said, he’ll need to find new funds for its future use.

“I’m trying to come up with creative ways to address this,” he said, adding he's optimistic that Medicaid could help. When it comes to HONU, Krucky said he hoped to double the program’s footprint from one rotating location to two, but that the funding cut means he’ll likely have to wait.

Government funding in general is becoming harder to get, Mitchell said, referencing recent natural disasters like the Maui wildfires in 2024 and Kona low storms in 2026 that necessitated shifting resources to address their impacts. She said her organization’s annual state funding has declined by about $1.5 million.

The Point-In-Time Count is a federally mandated process for the county to receive money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This year, the count occurred on Jan. 26.

Civil Beat’s reporting on economic inequality is supported by the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation as part of its work to build equity for all through the CHANGE Framework; and by the Cooke Foundation.