A new online command center that will coordinate homelessness efforts across the City and County of Honolulu is up and running. This coincides with last week's opening of the new headquarters for the city's Department of Community Services in Kalihi (in the former Central Pacific Bank Operations Center on 222 N. School Street).
The Kōkua Command Center, run by DCS, is centralizing services to strengthen collaboration, improve response time, and boost resource availability for those experiencing homelessness.
Anton Krucky, DCS’s director, said despite there being data on the houseless population across the county, there was not one space where it could all be accessed, analyzed, and acted upon by multiple organizations and agencies.
“We have more tools than we ever had before, we have changing landscapes with people's attitudes and such, and yet we still have homelessness, so something was missing,” Krucky said. “We can help those people. It's unhealthy on the street and if we can help them, we can add years to their lives, and I think we owe it to them to do that.”
He told HPR a story about a houseless man who agreed to seek shelter — but only if he could bring his three dogs with him. By the time the employees had called local shelters to see which could house the man and his dogs, the man had changed his mind and said he did not want help anymore.
“You need to get somebody at that 'aha' moment when, for whatever reason, something is making them willing to take services and get some help,” Krucky said. “With the command center, you can quickly go online and it gives you an answer right there.”
Roy Miyahira, the city’s director of homeless solutions, said he is proud to see the progress and success so far but is always looking for what is next, pointing to the forecasted aggressive El Niño hurricane season that will hit Hawaiʻi this summer.
“It's now a matter of scaling it up with some other providers who want to use the system, because there are more people out there who are in need,” Miyahira said. “It’s really built for speed – the whole intent is to make decisions quickly, get them in the right spot, make that reservation, then transport them there to start getting healed, receive treatment, and change the life that they were living.”
Service providers and county agencies, like the Honolulu Police Department and the Homeless Outreach and Navigation for Unsheltered Persons, have already been trained and introduced to the new system. Miyahira said they have identified about 25 other service providers who are interested in eventually using the online command center.
He noted that homeless initiatives and solutions are an ever-evolving process with no “one size fits all” answer, but said he’s thankful for how patient and understanding the public has been.
“They always seem to understand that there's some type of tie between us somewhere down the road, whether we know someone's aunt or cousin or nephew,” he said. “I think that makes us more endearing to each other, to exercise more patience and compassion, and to be more willing to help people up.”
Although houseless efforts are the forefront focus across the new hub, resources and programs for early childhood development, kūpuna, and community-focused initiatives will also be housed at the downtown DCS headquarters.
