The City and County of Honolulu is celebrating a new facility that expands services to homeless individuals. Officials hope it will offer permanent housing to those in need and free up the city’s emergency services.
The Lēʻahi Behavioral and Medical Respite facility is located near Diamond Head and offers emergency housing, medical care and substance abuse treatment to homeless individuals — including those without health insurance.
The city is covering the cost of those services via funding from the state.
The facility will care for patients until they get their own health insurance and documents, such as birth certificates and identification cards, to help them transition to more permanent housing.
“ They don't leave here until we have them in the services that they need — that's different. A lot of times in the past, things were timed. We had X amount of days … perhaps a month. That's not the case here. The case here is we take care of people until they have their services in place and stabilized, including medical stabilization,” said Dr. Dan Kehoe, director of North Shore Mental Health.
Officials said that patients can be admitted into the facility via a referral process from a hospital they were checked into prior. They can’t refuse the referred services at Lēʻahi without a legitimate reason.
The city’s goal is to assist patients with medical care, insurance, documentation and housing within about a month or two. Once out, they are directed to case managers for further assistance.
About 20 people have already been referred to the facility.
The city also hopes the additional care will help redirect “overburdened” emergency services.
Homeless individuals often have to be re-treated after receiving care because they return to living situations where they cannot properly heal.
“A lot of the time, individuals who are houseless that are found on the street, get some type of wound care and they get in the emergency room and then they go back to the street,” said Ian Santee, deputy director for the Honolulu Emergency Services Department.
“What that does is when it gets infected or when it gets out of control, it increases 911 calls … causing some over type of overcrowding,” he added.
The facility and services are a collaborative effort by multiple agencies. Lēʻahi Hospital provided the building, while North Shore Mental Health offers care, services and — with assistance from the city’s Crisis and Outreach Response Team — transportation. HESD and the state Department of Human Services administer and provide the funding.
DHS provided about $4.2 million in grant money for the expanded services.
