Honolulu YMCA ends rental subsidies for long-term tenants

Suzanne Spencer has lived across from the chic Ala Moana Center in Honolulu for almost five years, but for her the prime location is not a matter of luxury, but of necessity.

The 57-year-old, who makes a living through temporary work and odd jobs she finds on Craigslist, has been renting a room at the Central YMCA on Atkinson Drive for $300 a month since December 2019.

A brain injury she suffered in a car accident more than ten years ago has made it too difficult for her to hold down a steady job, but thanks to the affordable rate at the YMCA, combined with its central location near shopping centers and bus stops, she can continue to live. independent.

However, earlier this month she learned that this way of living would be coming to an end after the Central YMCA informed her and several other long-term renters that they would not continue to subsidize their rent.

Starting Friday, they will be charged the YMCA’s regular rate of $400 per week, or $1,600 per month, for a single room and a communal bathroom. That’s an increase Spencer said she and other long-term residents, including older adults and people with disabilities, cannot afford.

‘We have exhausted the money’

Lisa Ontai, vice president of marketing and mission development for the YMCA of Honolulu, said the nonprofit has not increased advertised rents but simply does not have the money to continue subsidizing long-term renters as it has done for the past seven years. year.

Last year, the organization spent $132,000 on financial grants for eight long-term tenants. In turn, the Central YMCA raised just $32,321 during its 2024 annual campaign, just 46% of its fundraising goal.

“We’ve used up the money at this point,” Ontai said.

She said the organization is trying to help its long-term tenants find other housing options.

But Spencer said she hasn’t found any viable alternatives.

“I have nowhere to go,” she said through tears Tuesday during an interview at a Starbucks across the street from the Central YMCA. “I work very hard and I work a lot, but because of my brain injury I can’t earn the amount of money I need to survive.”

Ontai said the YMCA hopes to resume rental subsidies in the future, but has had to pause the program until the end of the 2025 fundraising campaign.

“I think any loss of subsidized housing for people who really need it is a challenge.”

Connie Mitchell of the Institute for Human Services

In the meantime, she said the organization has made a social worker available to work with residents to find other places to stay. Most have said they plan to move in with relatives or have found ways to pay the higher rate at least temporarily until they can move to other permanent housing, she said.

Spencer said being notified of the end of her grant completely shook her sense of stability, and she still has no idea what she’ll do on Friday.

Ontai would not say whether those who cannot pay the full price would be kicked out. “What I can say is that we will take a case-by-case basis and work with the best resources we have available.”

Although a letter from the YMCA notifying Spencer of the change is dated September 27, she says she did not receive it until October 4, giving her less than a month’s notice to apply for a new to find a place.

Operating as a hotel

Mish Hood, senior executive director of the Central YMCA, said in a statement that all affected guests were informed of the change by September 28. Ontai said the organization is not required to give tenants 45 days’ notice of a rent increase, as required by law. allows the landlord-tenant code because the YMCA operates as a hotel and does not have a landlord-tenant relationship with guests.

She acknowledged the difficulty of the situation for tenants, but said continuing to provide the subsidy was not sustainable for the organization.

“It’s a very difficult situation,” she said. ‘We work with people’s lives here. It is unfortunately a situation that we see happening every day in our community. The best we can do is use the resources we have.”

Spencer said she wishes the YMCA had at least given tenants more notice. Most of her time is spent working at her various jobs and traveling by bus and bicycle between these jobs, leaving little free time to look for apartments. Additionally, her brain injury makes it difficult for her to keep track of available resources.

Built in 1949 at its current location on Atkinson Drive, the Central YMCA is the only residential Y on Oahu other than the YMCA Camp Erdman in Waialua, which offers overnight camps for youth and families and cabins and yurts at the has a beach. available for nightly rental. Eight other YMCA locations on the island offer a variety of activities, including after-school programs, senior programs and fitness classes.

The Central Y, which closed its health and fitness facilities in 2015, has 115 rooms available and typically has an occupancy rate of 70% to 80%, according to Ontai.

Temporary housing shortages

Private rooms with a shared communal bathroom are available for $65 per night or $400 per week, while rooms with private bathrooms or kitchenettes are more expensive.

Ontai said the $300 per month subsidized rent was a special rate worked out on a case-by-case basis with certain tenants and was never advertised.

The organization typically provides financial assistance by calculating a person’s family size and income and offers up to 60% of the cost of a person’s rental or membership, she said.

Most of the eight long-term renters who received the higher subsidy were referred by the YMCA Human Services Institutea nonprofit focused on finding housing for the homeless, Onai said.

The YMCA was seen as a temporary housing space for people coming off the streets and looking for more permanent solutions, IHS Director Connie Mitchell said. She said the Institute for Human Services used to pay its clients’ rent at the YMCA, but that program ended about nine years ago due to budget cuts.

She said the city needs more options for affordable temporary housing for people looking for stability.

“I think any loss of subsidized housing for people who really need it is a challenge,” she said.

For Spencer, it’s not just the loss of the only place she’s called home since moving to Hawaii in December 2019, it’s also the loss of a community where she’s made friendships and built a routine.

“I’m grateful to have this place where I can be safe,” she said. “I met very nice people who became friends. I don’t know where I’m going. It’s just fear.”