Pu'u Honua O Waianae - What We Can Learn
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Slide deck and notes describing the homeless camp at the Waianae Boat Harbor, and the lessons we can learn from the good work happening there.
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Pu'u Honua O Waianae - What We Can Learn
- 8. People are already experimenting and building… …using recycled and natural materials and solar.
- 9. Building community, inside the village and beyond.
- 10. Trying to grow staple crops that reduce food costs… …and seeking land and starters for ulu.
- 11. The dream: Save up, build and buy a house… …one piece at a time.
- 12. The dream: Clusters with common kitchen, living, and bath.
Editor's Notes
- not a talk about homelessness not a talk about the need for more compassion or charity this is a talk about the affordability emergency affecting most people in Hawaii because homelessness is fundamentally a symptom of affordability crisis I want to share 3 points: 1. we have an affordability emergency on our hands, and homelessness is one symptom of that crisis 2. we can learn from people on the street on how to tackle affordability. indeed, i believe there are clues to the future of how to build island communities in what is happening on the camps of our streets and beaches 3. we must radically expand our imagination about what a home is, how it's built, what it's made of, and who we build for. We need to do this in order to create housing that is within reach for most local residents AND build communities that reflect the values and lifestyle of an island people
- Much of what I want to share I learned on the street. I spent a week in the Kakaako camp two summers ago Ive been out on the street once a week since then, keeping connected and meeting new people, mostly in the town and Waianae areas I’ve talked to about 60 folks on the street, and gotten parts of their story or feedback on how the system is operating I’ve looked at the data…
- The orange line is median home prices. The green line is what a family earning 2x the median wage in Hawaii can afford to buy. The graph for rents looks the same. The growing gap between housing costs and what people earn is destroying hope and communities. It means that people are under tremendous financial stress, all the time. It means that people who have challenges with health, mental health, substance abuse, or family conflicts used to be able to deal with these things and still afford housing. Now, with the gap this big, any of these things becomes a threat to their housing situation. It means that someone on the street sees the hope of being housed one day, moving further and further out of reach. It means that families can no longer afford to take in extended family members or friends because they themselves are under serious financial strain. So that’s my first point: homelessness is a symptom of an affordability emergency affecting us all.
- My second point is that we can learn from the street – learn about possible solutions to the affordability crisis AND learn how to build communities that reflect our island values. This is Puuhonua O Waianae, home to 250-300 people including between 50-75 keiki.
- Twinkle Borge is the leader of Puuhonua O Waianae. She leads with the help of a team of women who live with her in the camp, and the help of leaders from the surrounding community like James Pakele. It is because of Twinkle and her team’s extraordinary leadership that the camp is orderly and organized, safe for families and children, and stable enough for keiki to attend school and parents to attend or seek work. This is a sharp contrast with urban Honolulu where people are swept regularly, and lack any sense of stability and personal safety.
- Twinkle was recently (April 2017) honored by the Hawaii State Legislature for the good she does for people living at Puuhonua O Waianae and for the surrounding Waianae community.
- People in Puuhonua O Waianae are dreaming of homes that have these features…
- And they’re not just dreaming. People like Twinkle, James ,and residents of the village are experimenting and building. They’re using natural and recycled materials. They’re experimenting with solar. And they are building community….
- There are events for family and keiki, organized by Twinkle and her team, at every special occasion. Kids do not feel left out or stigmatized at Christmas or Easter – there are events and gifts for each one. Community events are open to, and attended by, “housed” residents from Waianae and beyond.
- Folks in the village are also experimenting with growing more of their own food – especially staple crops like kalo, maia, and uala. One dream, spearheaded by James Pakele, is find land and starters for an orchard of ulu – a plant so productive it could feed the entire village and more.
- Another aspect of a dream home is that it could be bought one piece at a time – as people save enough money to purchase part of a home, but not its entirety. Save up…buy the floor, put your tent on it. Save up…buy one wall, then another, then another. Save up…buy the roof. Simple structures, small and modular/stackable if you need to expand to accommodate new family members One piece at a time , and all under $5,000.
- The tiny homes would share common outdoor areas, cooking and bathroom facilities. These are the items (kitchen and bathrooms especially) that make houses so expensive. The cluster configuration fosters sharing and community.
- Again, not just a dream – people in the village are doing it. James Pakele is seeking quotes for those “dream homes” and one from Hardware Hawaii came in under $5000 for everything needed to build it.
- Which brings me back to my third and final point: We need to think beyond traditional housing, condos, rentals to tackle the affordability crisis We need to rethink what we’re building, what it’s made of, and who we are building for. Our thinking is constrained and so are our laws and policies with requirements like minimum lot size, minimum parking requirements, required sewer hookup instead of composting toilets, restrictions on farming in residential areas To tie it all together: We should look to how people are surviving and thriving on our streets and beaches – for clues and ideas. We should be looking to places like Puuhonua o Waianae and leaders like Twinkle Borge and James Pakele as assets to our community who can break us out of the box that limits our imagination. We should be engaging them, supporting them, and working with them, not as charity, but as thought partners in how to solve the crisis of affordability AND community that affects us all.