Maui County reviews Department of Human Concerns budget, highlights grants and homelessness work

Director Lori Suhako told the Maui County WASA Committee on March 17 that the Department of Human Concerns' mission is "to support and enhance the social well-being of the citizens of Maui County." She presented an operational and budgetary review of the department's FY2025 budget and described recent grant awards, staffing changes, and program activity across divisions including early childhood, grants management, homeless services, immigrant services, the Maui County Office on Aging (Kaunoa) and the volunteer center.

Why it matters: The department administers tens of millions in grants and programs for vulnerable residents and manages services tied to federal and state funding streams. Changes in staffing, procurement timelines, and grant execution affect service continuity for seniors, families with young children, immigrants, people experiencing homelessness and animal management programs.

Suhako said most department funding supports personnel and day-to-day human services; animal management represents about $3.9 million of the department's budget. She summarized recent FY2025 additions the council approved and their current status: $250,000 for early childhood program expansions; $25,000 for Feed My Sheep; roughly $9,500 for Hualaulima Ohana (Hana home dialysis); $22,000 for Women Helping Women; $250,000 for houseless programs; $250,000 for frail-and-elderly grants; $400,000 for immigrant and migrant services (procurement awarded to Pacific Gateway and in grant-execution); $250,000 for mental health programming; $330,000 for Molokai Community Health Center; $250,000 for substance-abuse programs; $250,000 for youth programs; and smaller supplements to existing grantees such as MEO (about $97,000) and Hawaiian Kamali (about $9,700).

On staffing Suhako said the department had filled 17 positions and reported 32 vacancies as of an internal reporting date. She emphasized reliance on grants management staff to administer more than 80 grants totaling over $20 million, and said the grants team carefully reviews outcome measures before executing agreements.

On homelessness, Suhako described the county's use of a Housing First approach and the HUD-mandated Maui County coordinated entry system, which uses the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to assess and match people to housing. She said the coordinated entry system helped the county make use of 56 HUD emergency housing vouchers and 20 HUD stabilization vouchers. Suhako cited a 2024 two-year housing retention rate of 79.3 percent for people placed through the system and noted demographic details collected through outreach: about 5.2 percent veterans; 12.6 percent kupuna; 23.4 percent children (40 percent of those under 5); and that most people experiencing homelessness in the outreach data had long residence histories in Hawaii.

Suhako also outlined immigrant services, which have expanded document assistance, referrals and passport acceptance (the department is an authorized U.S. Department of State passport acceptance facility). She said the office had assisted more than 1,400 clients on immigration appointments and accepted 52 passport applications as of January. The department is issuing a grant for immigrant services and had selected Pacific Gateway as a contractor for at least part of that work.

The Maui County Office on Aging and Kaunoa senior services were described in detail: Suhako noted the office operates under the Older Americans Act framework, uses a mix of general, state and federal Title III funds, and supports congregate meals, Meals on Wheels, assisted transportation, respite and caregiver supports. She said congregate nutrition served roughly 540 participants and home-delivered meals served about 1,200 participants as of the department's January snapshot.

Suhako and staff answered council questions about grant audits and administrative burdens. She said federal single-audit thresholds apply to larger grantees and that the county encourages smaller providers to use fiscal agents when appropriate — citing Lokahi Pacific as an example of a fiscal-agent model for smaller nonprofits.

Committee members and public testifiers pressed the department on gaps in homeless services, procurement timelines (including a previously issued RFP and a strategic-plan contract completed by Eco Northwest), safe-parking pilot delays, and execution of projects and grants. Representative Ella Cochran and several public speakers urged more use of allocated funds for basic needs (water and medical supplies), faster rollout of safe-parking programs, and clearer plans for temporary tiny-home sites after their short-term use ends.

Council members also discussed department vacancies and whether current staffing levels are adequate to manage roughly 80 grants; Suhako said recruiting was ongoing and that some delays result from programmatic clarifications needed before contracts can be executed. She said grants management requires clear, measurable outcomes before the county will execute agreements.

The committee deferred further action and invited staff to provide follow-up details on grant execution timelines, the status of specific FY2025 line items, and the RFP for a safe-parking pilot. No formal motions or votes were taken on the item during the meeting.

Less-urgent details: Suhako noted the department administers an animal management grant program, volunteer-center outreach and capacity-building supports for local nonprofits, and early-childhood programs including county subsidy payments, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library and Reach Out and Read partnerships. She said the department continues to seek applicants for vacant positions and to refine procurement language to improve grant responsiveness.