LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The number of homeless people on Kaua'i has grown steadily during the past few years, according to agencies that track the problem, and officials are responding by opening the first emergency shelter on the island.

The size of the homeless population is outstripping the ability of government and nonprofits to provide facilities, said Mayor Bryan Baptiste.

However, "I think we're getting some control over it. There are things that are taking place," Baptiste said. "We have just received $400,000 from the state to help deal with homelessness."

The increase led officials to begin planning for a new emergency homeless shelter, and within a few weeks, a combination emergency and transitional shelter will open in Lihu'e. It will provide up to 19 beds for emergency shelter, and 20 beds in eight family units for transitional housing — families making the switch from homelessness to renting or owning their homes.

Kaua'i had been the only county without such a facility.

"We're really close to opening this shelter," said MaBel Ferreiro-Fujiuchi, president of Kaua'i Economic Opportunity, a nonprofit organization that is the largest of several agencies on the island that provide services to the homeless.

The emergency shelter portion is being constructed from the historic Lihu'e Grammar School building and the transitional housing from four former county temporary office buildings. All the buildings have been moved to the site for use as homeless shelters and are being renovated to meet their new requirements.

Additionally, state and county officials are studying the possibility of using the former 5th Circuit Court building in Lihu'e as a housing facility. The building, with thick stone walls and a red clay tile roof, first opened 70 years ago and is on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Lihu'e Civic Center Historic District.

"The state has been meeting with the county to discuss how the state can assist the counties in dealing with their housing problems," said Russell Pang, spokesman for Gov. Linda Lingle.

Baptiste said the state, which owns the 1937 courthouse, must make a decision about the site, and the county would be a partner if the concept moves forward.

The recent increase in the homeless population comes from a wide range of groups, including individuals and families displaced by high housing prices, drug and alcohol users, the mentally ill and even newcomers from outside the state.

"We seem to get more people moving from off island into these populations. A number of them are not local individuals," Baptiste said.

County, state and nonprofit agencies, often with federal funds, are trying several things to address the needs of the 920 people identified during the past year by Kaua'i Economic Opportunity as being homeless on Kaua'i.

That number may be more than the number of homeless people on the island at any one time, but it represents an unduplicated count of homeless people who were contacted during the year by KEO.

Although counting the population is challenging, it appears to have grown steadily in recent years, said Veronica Texeira, transitional program coordinator with KEO. She said she believes the count was closer to 600 just four years ago.

A key factor in the increase is the cost of housing, she said. A majority of the homeless people interviewed as part of the count cite affordability of housing as the main reason they are in beach parks and on the streets, she said. More than four in five say difficulty paying rent is a key reason they lack secure shelter, she said.

But drugs, alcoholism, disability and mental illness all play roles, Texeira said.

"I think a lot of it has to do with the ice epidemic," said KEO housing placement coordinator Fatima Gaboy. Crystal methamphetamine is known as ice.

Most of the homeless population has access to food, she said. Assistance is available through food stamps, the Kaua'i Food Bank, churches and such programs as KEO's Care-A-Van, which delivers meals to 15 parks and other spots frequented by homeless people islandwide.

Mental health professionals and others conduct outreach programs to assist homeless people in need.

The island's homeless population is remarkably diverse, Texeira said.

"We have people sleeping on the beach who get up in the morning and go to work. There are people who are on the beach because they don't want any structure in their lives, and won't accept housing assistance," she said.

In the central Lihu'e area, people sleep outdoors, on government building porches and sheltered hallways. But Texeira said most of the island's homeless spend at least some of their nights in county and state beach parks — often with proper camping permits. She estimated that fewer than 10 percent lives on private property — sometimes with the permission of the landowner.

Government officials on Kaua'i are at a loss in dealing with that portion of the homeless population with behavioral issues like drug addiction and mental illness, Baptiste said.

"I don't think we've found a way to deal with that on the island," he said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.