Hawai‘i Lawmakers To Require Audit Of Green’s Kauhale Homeless Initiative
The governor says the funding legislators also approved will keep the state on track to have 30 kauhale villages by 2026.
Hawaiʻi lawmakers are calling for a performance and management audit of Gov. Josh Green’s signature kauhale initiative.
The audit request came late Friday as members of a House and Senate conference committee passed a bill to fund the initiative, which provides small shelters and support services to Hawaiʻi’s homeless population.
The state has at least 18 kauhale operating now, and Green has said he would like to increase that to 30 by 2026. Funding measures will keep the state on track to reach that goal, Green said Friday, calling it a “historic day” in Hawaiʻi’s efforts to address homelessness.
The measure hashed out during conference committee provides $18.5 million in 2026 and $24.3 million in 2027, said Rep. Lisa Marten, the lead negotiator for the House. That’s in addition to general fund approvals of $24 million for 2026 and $13 million in 2027, for a total of $88.2 million, Green said.
Other money for homelessness programs includes $500,000 for a rent supplement program, $3.1 million for family assessment centers in Puna and Waiʻanae, $7.5 million for a rapid rehousing program and $35.5 million for housing to support kupuna, totaling $134.3 million overall, Green said.
Lawmakers also attached strings to the money. The kauhale bill requires the Statewide Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions, which administers the program, to provide reports to the Legislature every four months outlining program expenditures, Marten said during a brief hearing.
“They have appropriately insisted on maximum transparency.”
Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green
Lawmakers were still working on the bill into the afternoon, which meant there was no final bill published on the Capitol website late Friday. Marten took the time to orally describe the bill’s final form during the 5 p.m. conference committee hearing.
Green said the reporting requirements were appropriate.
“They have appropriately insisted on maximum transparency and collaboration and we are excited to be partners on this journey to fully address homelessness,” he said of the lawmakers’ decision. “I’m very grateful to the legislators for fully funding our initiative so we can reach our goal of 30 kauhale by the end of 2026 and cut chronic homelessness in half.”
“This has the potential to be a national model — housing is healthcare,” Green said.
