Tsuhako appointment as Human Concerns director advances with 7-2 committee vote

Department of Housing and Human Concerns Director Lori Tsuhako faced critics Tuesday who questioned her responsiveness, accessibility and management of homelessness in Maui County. Nevertheless, she won support for her confirmation as Department of Human Concerns director from a majority of Maui County Council members.

The Council’s Government Relations, Ethics and Transparency Committee voted 7-2 in favor of confirmation, with Council Members Gabe Johnson and Keani Rawlins-Fernandez dissenting. Council Member Tamara Paltin voted aye, but with reservations.

Beginning July 1, Maui’s current Department of Housing and Human Concerns will split into two departments, as voters mandated in a November 2022 charter amendment. With Tsuhako’s appointment advancing to the full Council, one of two leadership pukas appears to be filled. Pending is Mayor Richard Bissen’s appointment of a director of the new Department of Housing.

Testimony on Tsuhako’s appointment was mixed. Supporters praised her knowledge, experience and intelligence. Opponents criticized her accessibility, responsiveness and the County’s lack of progress in addressing chronic homelessness.

Nonprofits supporting Tsuhako included Maui Economic Opportunity Inc., the Family Life Center and Catholic Charities Hawai‘i.

“Ms. Tsuhako understands the challenges that Maui County nonprofits face, but more importantly, she knows Maui County and the needs of our residents,” said Gay Sibonga, MEO’s chief operating officer.

Thelma Akita-Kealoha, Maui community director of Catholic Charities Hawai‘i, said she has worked with Tsuhako for “quite some time and in different roles.”

“She has compassion for people in the community, and she deeply respects people and she values honesty,” Akita-Kealoha said. Tsuhako is one of the few people recognized as an expert in understanding the homeless continuum of care and requirements of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, she added.

Akita-Kealoha recalled that earlier in Tsuhako’s social service career, she would take empty food containers home, wash them and fill them with food for people living on the streets; even giving some people rides in her car when they needed help.

Lisa Darcy, founder of Share Your Mana, acknowledged Tsuhako’s wealth of experience, but asked council members to reconsider her appointment.

“You really need somebody who’s going to be responsive,” she said, adding that, only once, did Tsuhako accept Darcy’s many invitations “to come and work with people and sit in the dirt.”

During committee deliberations, Johnson said he wanted leadership of the department to have “an innovative approach and fresh blood.”

“If we want to get better, why are we hiring the same folks? Let’s give some new people a chance,” he said.

Rawlins-Fernandez said she had concerns about Tsuhako’s follow-up on pending issues, such as mortgage relief, the selection of Affordable Housing Committee members and communicating effectively with council members.

Tsuhako is a “wonderful and caring person, and I love talking story with Director Tsuhako,” Rawlins-Fernandez said. “I don’t feel assured after today’s meeting that there will be the work with more of the entities that came up to explain to us that they have not been seen and heard and worked with. So, I cannot support the nomination today.”

Bissen sat next to Tsuhako during the confirmation hearing. He told council members that he and Tsuhako share a vision for a Department of Human Concerns that’s more focused on its mission of addressing the social service needs of the community. He also emphasized that the department would promote diversified funding for nonprofit partners “so they can grow and strengthen into sustainable programs that no longer solely rely on County support,” he said.

The goal is for Maui County to encourage and support nonprofit programs that are “more robust, more responsive and, of course, effective,” the mayor said.

In her opening remarks, Tsuhako echoed Bissen’s vision for the department, improving its coordination of government-assisted social services.

“I would also like to focus on evidence-based practice because it’s been proven to be effective, and so there’s no sense in dumping money, a lot of money, into things that we don’t know will work,” she said.

Johnson disputed Tsuhako’s emphasis on data-driven systems for delivering services. While he said he understands the data is a requirement for receiving federal funds, the council member said he doesn’t believe it works in practice and burdens people seeking services with paperwork.

“This system is so hard on our houseless folks,” he said. “Reducing the barriers, that’s really the question.”

Tsuhako said data collection requirements are part of a larger system of care and necessary for the County to receive health, Section 8 housing and community development block grant funding.

“We as a system have tried to reduce the obstacles to getting people into services,” she said. “But in order to get somebody’s house, they need to have an ID. I don’t know too many property managers who will rent a home to somebody who doesn’t have an ID.”

Johnson asked Tsuhako to respond to public testimony from those who said their concerns are not being heard.

“As a director, I’m not able to speak with every single person who asks to speak with me,” Tsuhako said. “It just sometimes is literally impossible. . . To those who feel like they’re unheard, I apologize. But we do know what it’s like to run a department of 187 FTEs (full-time employees)… and to prioritize the limited time that I have.”

Tsuhako said the new Department of Human Concerns will have about 150 employees, with the balance shifting over to the Department of Housing.

The Human Concerns Department will retain services and programs that focus on early childhood, homelessness, immigrant services, seniors, and oversight of the County’s Volunteer Center and Office on Aging.

Tsuhako also has served as director of the Department of Housing and Human Concerns under former Mayors Charmaine Tavares and Michael Victorino. She has 36 years of experience as a professional social worker in the fields of child welfare, criminal justice, and substance abuse education and prevention, and homelessness.

She was an administrator of the State of Hawaiʻi’s Homeless Programs Office and worked in the field of Aging. Tsuhako is a licensed social worker in Hawaiʻi and received certification from the national Academy of Certified Social Workers. She earned a Bachelor of Social Work degree and a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Tsuhako said she has taken inspiration from a story on National Public Radio of a man who grew up in New Jersey housing projects and eventually became superintendent of public schools.

“He quoted his father who told him the biggest room in the house is room for improvement,” she said. “I wrote that down because that’s a good lesson to learn.”

If confirmed by the full Council, Tsuhako’s term as director of the Department of Human Concerns would begin July 1.