The recent Civil Beat essay highlighting the growing number of kūpuna experiencing homelessness should serve as a wake-up call for all of us.

Behind every statistic is a lifetime of work, sacrifice and contributions to our communities. No one should spend their later years wondering where they will sleep at night, yet for too many this is a reality.

As the Hawaiʻi County Council faces a decision on whether to continue our Homelessness and Housing Fund, which is currently set to sunset in June 2027, we have a responsibility to think beyond the present. The question is not only how this fund is being used today but also what it should accomplish in the years ahead, and what would our island look like if we were to discontinue the funding.

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Homelessness is increasing across the United States. The U.S. Government Accountability Office’s statistical analysis from 2020 found median rent increases of $100 a month were connected with a 9% increase in homelessness. UHERO data revealed that rental rates have seen increases of almost 50% since 2019.

Local service providers’ data has shown that in 2025 on Hawai‘i Island, two households became homeless for every one that was moved into permanent housing. (Source: Bridging the Gap the neighbor islands Continuum of Care for Homeless Services).

The Homelessness and Housing Fund currently provides $9 million annually, generated through property taxes on nonresident housing such as vacation homes, vacant properties, and investment properties. This funding represents a thoughtful policy choice: asking those who benefit from Hawaiʻi’s housing market, but do not rely on it as their primary residence, to help address one of our community’s most urgent and complex challenges.

The latest round of Homelessness and Housing Fund funding supports a broad continuum of services, including safe overnight sleeping programs, emergency shelters, permanent housing with supportive services, outreach, long-term housing, and support programs such as mental health care, substance use treatment, rental assistance, and other stabilization services.

Each of these investments addresses different points along the pathway out of homelessness. None of them alone is enough, but together they create a system that gives people a chance to regain stability and shelter.

Prevention deserves far more attention. Many kūpuna are not becoming homeless because of poor decisions; they are aging into homelessness after a lifetime of rising housing costs, fixed incomes, increased medical expenses, and limited affordable housing options.

While response to homelessness remains essential, we should continue expanding investments in prevention, rental assistance, housing stability, and supportive services that help residents remain safely housed before they enter the system.

Ending the Homelessness and Housing Fund will not make these needs disappear but would simply shift the burden elsewhere — to emergency rooms, first responders, social service agencies, parks, beaches, and doorways of downtown businesses. More importantly, it would leave vulnerable residents with fewer pathways to stability at a time when housing affordability continues to worsen.

As policymakers, we have a duty to evaluate how public dollars are spent and to ensure they produce meaningful outcomes. We should absolutely continue measuring effectiveness, improving accountability, and adjusting priorities as community needs evolve. However, allowing this fund to expire without a sustainable replacement would move us in the wrong direction.

The choices we make today will shape the Hawaiʻi Island our children and grandchildren inherit. I believe we can build a community where our kūpuna can age with dignity, where families have a better chance of remaining housed, and where homelessness is addressed through both compassion and smart public policy.

Continuing, while thoughtfully strengthening, the Homelessness and Housing Fund is an important step toward providing the support our keiki and kūpuna deserve.