More Help Is Coming For Hawaii’s Homeless Youth….Act 130, recently signed into law, establishes the Safe Spaces for Youth Pilot Program under the Department of Human Services.
At 2 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, teenagers at the Residential Youth Services and Empowerment program have just finished their music therapy class. Inside the mint-green building, young people cook a late lunch over the stove and relax on overstuffed couches.
Located at the Kawailoa Youth and Family Wellness Center, RYSE began in 2018 as the state’s first emergency housing shelter for youth ages 14 to 24. Following the recent passage of Act 130, Hawaii can expect to see similar spaces emerge in the coming years.
Act 130 tasks the Department of Human Services with developing the Safe Spaces for Youth Pilot Program. The program aims to create shelters providing homeless youth with basic resources ranging from overnight housing to medical and mental health services on a 24/7 basis. DHS has $600,000 to create the program over the next three years and enter into contracts with local nonprofits already supporting homeless youth.
