State unveils plan for long vacant apartments at publicly-funded complex
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - For nearly two and a half years, 27 brand new low-income units have sat vacant in Iwilei because the city was unable to find a property manager to run the place.
Now, the state is in charge of operations.
According to officials with the state Department of Health, the apartments will be used to permanently house people with serious mental illness who are stable enough to live on their own. But what’s still unclear is when residents will start moving in.
In March, the state took control of the $17 million facility built by the city at the corner of Sumner Street and Iwilei Road. A portion of the building is now home to the Behavioral Health Crisis Center, which provides mental health treatment for everyone — including people who are homeless.
“Our capacity is a quarter of what it will be eventually,” said psychiatrist Chad Koyanagi.
While operations downstairs at the facility are ramping up, the 27 apartments upstairs are still empty. Construction wrapped up on the studio units two and a half year ago. And despite the dearth of affordable housing, government has been unable to figure out a way to move anyone in.
HNN Investigates
It’s a problem HNN Investigates has been following since 2022.
Money was pooled together from multiple sources — including the city’s general fund, federal funding and bond money — to build the facility. Officials say it’s the rules associated with the bonds that long prevented the resource center from fulfilling its intended purpose.
Until now.
“This facility was an opportunity for the Department of Health,” said Courtenay Matsu, medical director and acting administrator for the DOH Adult Mental Health Division. She says the apartments will be semi-independent housing for people living with a severe mental illness.
Residents will be able to go and come as they please.
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“It comes with supportive services and property and housing management,” Matsu added. “Because it’s affordable housing the tenant will likely pay no more than 30% of their income towards rent.”
“The people who will live there just need someone to kind of check up on them once in a while,” added Koyanagi.
But before anyone can move in, Matsu says the building needs a few modifications, including changes to the walkway and the installation of security cameras. Gated screen doors also need to be installed on each unit. Those renovations are expected to cost about $500,000.
Perhaps most importantly, the state still needs to find a vendor to run the facility.
The search for that vendor is slated to begin in the next couple weeks.
DOH declined to estimate when it hopes to have people living in the facility’s apartment units, saying only that they hope to start renovations on the facility later this year.
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