HONOLULU (KHON2) — Kūpuna experiencing homelessness now have a housing option in Pahoa.
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The Sacred Heart Affordable Housing Project offers permanent affordable housing, just off Pahoa Village Road.
The 12 units offer 480-square-foot studios with both a kitchen and bathroom and were decorated and furnished by community members and volunteers.
Monsignor Gary Secor, vicar general of the Diocese of Honolulu, performs a blessing on one of the 12 units at the the Sacred Heart Affordable Housing Project in Pahoa. (Photo Courtesy County of Hawaiʻi) 
An attendee of a blessing held Wednesday, November 8, 2023, tours one of the 12 units at the Sacred Heart Affordable Housing Project. (Photo Courtesy County of Hawaiʻi) 
Each of the 480-square-foot studio units features a kitchen and bathroom lovingly decorated and furnished by volunteers and members of the community. (Photo Courtesy County of Hawaiʻi) 
Each of the 480-square-foot studio units features a kitchen and bathroom lovingly decorated and furnished by volunteers and members of the community. (Photo Courtesy County of Hawaiʻi) 
Attendees of a blessing held Wednesday, November 8, 2023, check out the 12 units at the Sacred Heart Affordable Housing Project. Each of the 480-square-foot studio units features a kitchen and bathroom lovingly decorated and furnished by volunteers and members of the community. (Photo Courtesy County of Hawaiʻi) 
Attendees of a blessing held Wednesday, November 8, 2023, check out the 12 units at the Sacred Heart Affordable Housing Project. Each of the 480-square-foot studio units features a kitchen and bathroom lovingly decorated and furnished by volunteers and members of the community. (Photo Courtesy County of Hawaiʻi) 
HOPE Services Hawaiʻi CEO Brandee Menino speaks to attendees during the blessing Wednesday, November 8, 2023, for the Sacred Heart Affordable Housing Project in Pahoa. (Photo Courtesy County of Hawaiʻi)
HOPE Services Hawaii, along with their community partners, produced the project on the same site as their shelter that was built in 2018 to house kūpuna who were affected by the Kilauea eruption that year.
“This is truly a model that can be used for other efforts and programs of the same nature as far as affordable housing is concerned, particularly for transitional homes,” HOPE Services Hawaiʻi Board of Directors President Pete Hoffmann said at a blessing for the project.
The factory-built units will be ready in the coming weeks for kūpuna 62 years of age and older.
Hawaii County anticipated 159 units would be completed in 2023, these 12 units are among the count. The County expects 217 more units will be ready for occupancy in 2024.
“What we see here today wouldn’t be possible without the dedication of nonprofits like HOPE Services Hawaiʻi engaging so many partners and funders in our community to provide these beautiful homes that our kūpuna deserve,” said County of Hawaiʻi Housing Administrator Susan Kunz. “It is partnerships like this that will help move our Hawaiʻi Island community toward ending homelessness because, ultimately, the only way to end homelessness is to house folks.”
