Hope Services Hawaii Inc

Through our outreach program, housing navigators conduct comprehensive assessments to understand each person?s housing needs, barriers, and preferences. The outreach program helps clients to navigate the process of securing housing, connecting individuals and families with resources and services that can support their housing stability, such as rental assistance programs, affordable housing, healthcare, access to mental health and employment. The outreach program served 301 individuals, 225 head of households, 15 non head, among those served were 61 children, and 141 of the individuals served were chronically homeless. Additionally, the program assisted 10 veterans, providing support to those who served. Notably, the program successfully placed 76 individuals in permanent housing and 47 individuals to emergency shelters.

The emergency shelter program provided a safe, sanitary place to live while working toward permanent housing for 337 households, composed of 442 individuals, including 78 children 17 years old and younger and 86 kupuna who were 62 years or older. Hope's emergency shelters provide temporary living places and a transformative program where guests and staff remain focused on the ultimate goal of permanent housing. During initial intake, hope staff familiarize guests with the program and facility and provide needed items such as basic toiletries, personal hygiene articles, clothing, and food. In the first few days of program entry, staff work with program guests to help create meaningful goals that focus on their strengths and are participant-centered, specific, and measurable. Learning about guests' individual needs, staff connect guests to services that address barriers, which may include access to health insurance, primary healthcare, dental, and mental health services. Staff assists guests in increasing their income and assets by verifying eligibility for public benefits, working on an honest budget, and connecting them to community resources for financial literacy, banking, tax preparation, and credit repair and opportunities for literacy, educational, and vocational services, computer skills classes, resume development, interview coaching, mentoring, job training, higher education, job placement, and employment services. Hope services' emergency shelter program stands as a vital resource for individuals and families facing housing instability. By combining safe, temporary shelter with person-centered, holistic support-including health, financial, educational, and employment services-the program empowers guests to overcome barriers and work toward lasting stability. With a strong focus on dignity, self- determination, and comprehensive care, hope's approach continues to serve as a bridge from crisis to permanent housing and renewed independence. Throughout the year, there were a total of 136 households that exited into permanent housing with a total of 195 persons. Of those who exited to permanent housing, 75% received financial benefits, and 99% were covered by health insurance. These outcomes reflect: effective service delivery, high success in securing income and healthcare, and substantial transition rates from temporary shelter to permanent housing. Hope collects data in the state homeless management information system, enabling our outcomes to be measured against internal and system-wide performance benchmarks. In fiscal year 2023-2024, hope services shelter program served 266 households with a total of 454 people. The programs have achieved a 77% exit rate to permanent housing with a median length of stay of 92 days. 45% increased earned income at exit 45%, another 61% exited with non-earned income, and 99% covered with medical insurance. These outcomes reflect hope services' ongoing commitment to addressing homelessness with compassion, targeted supports, and data-informed interventions. Despite shifting external conditions, the program continues to guide a majority of participants into permanent housing while consistently supporting income growth and universal access to health coverage-underscoring its role as a reliable catalyst for long-term stability and empowerment.

Programs within the health services department address comprehensive medical and behavioral health needs including social services and housing case management, which influence and impact an individual's ability for self-care and purposeful daily function. Employing a multidisciplinary approach in collaboration with community partners, hope services hawai'i strives to increase the health literacy and life skills that empower individuals to sustain long-term, optimal quality of life. The medical respite program uniquely provides a safe, comfortable, and nurturing setting where individuals can continue recuperation from a hospital admission, and/or decrease the risk of preventable or unnecessary admission to the hospital. The medical respite program grew from four beds in september 2022 to 12 beds in july 2024, and then to 18 beds in september 2024. From march 2023 through august 2024, 43 patients were accepted into a medical respite bed. An additional 20 patients with lower acuity were placed in an emergency shelter through the medical respite referral process. The street and shelter medicine programs offer health assessment, education, basic wound care, and care plan guidance to unsheltered individuals and to those in emergency or transitional shelters, respectively, who are experiencing barriers to accessing medical attention. The street and shelter medicine programs follow a prevention and early intervention model of healthcare that promotes optimal health as a foundation for achieving life goals. From april 2023 through august 2024, there were 260 street medicine encounters and 273 shelter medicine encounters. Supplemental services coordinated by the health services team include vaccination clinics, tb screening clinics, vision exams with the provision of free glasses, mobile primary care appointments, two naloxone vending machines, and participation in community health events to provide information, education, and wound care.