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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The city offered an update Friday on its efforts to convert a Moiliili highrise and former college into an affordable housing space, saying that 21 homeless families have already been placed and are getting support services.

“This program is about new beginnings,” said Tina Andrade, of Catholic Charities Hawaii.

“This facility provides a safe and stable residence for houses families with children. It offers a place to stay while the parents can seek employment and school age. Children can continue to go to school so that they don’t fall behind in their education.”

The 19-story Moiliili building has 108 studio apartments, along with commercial and office spaces. It formerly housed HPU and Tokai University facilities.

The city, with some help from the state, acquired the building in 2022 with just over $37 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.

“It seemed to be a bold move, but we saw the potential because all real estate starts with location and look where we are on Kapiolani Boulevard and we saw this is an opportunity to develop housing in workforce emergency for our homeless,” Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said.

“We saw the benefits and the possibilities, if you will, just about for everything we could possibly imagine this could do.”

Of the 21 families already being housed, they are comprised of 37 adults and 41 minors.

The city said at least five more families were scheduled to move in, and the facility is on track to be full by the end of summer.

Gov. Josh Green said having these Kau Hale villages and communities along with important social services is key to helping get people into jobs and long-term housing.

“That’s why, when people bring others into their lives, on their property or into a ... project like this, where you’re gonna have a lot of different people together, it is very therapeutic for society and that is what we have to get more comfortable with making sure that we understand that all of us are kind of solving this problem together,” Green said.

The rest of the units at the building will be used for affordable housing, limited to households that earn 60% of area median income or less.

For families housed there, Catholic Charities Hawaii has a goal of getting them into long-term housing and stable employment within months.

Leaders praise the work by both the city and state in tackling the housing crisis.

“This is not only a partnership, it’s not only a relationship, its a friendship. We’re truly united to perpetuate positive change. We’re gonna be steadfast in our approach to reduce homelessness significantly,” state Coordinator on Homelessness John Mizuno said.

In addition to housing, the highrise is the new home for the Royal Hawaiian Band.

“This building has evolved over the last couple of years now ... to be everything that we hoped it would be,” Blangiardi said. “It satisfies on a lot of levels our efforts.”