Nonprofit Groups Work With Landlords to Help House People Struggling to Pay Rent

This year’s Hawaii Point in Time Count, an annual street and shelter survey conducted in January, showed about 6,500 people experience homelessness in Hawaii on one night and about 57% of those individuals were unsheltered.

Of those surveyed on Oahu, about 24% were chronically homeless, while on the neighbor islands, that number was 35%, with increases on Hawaii island and in the number of homeless veterans compared to last year.

Melody Lopez, Kauai Program Administrator for Catholic Charities and secretary of Bridging the Gap, a coalition of more than 25 homeless service providers on the neighbor islands, joined Good Morning Hawaii to talk about how the pandemic affects the homeless population and those struggling to keep their housing.

For information on relief programs, visit catholiccharitieshawaii.org or btghawaii.org or call 211.