Affordable housing advocates and low-income residents gathered at City Hall yesterday to call for the re-establishment of a city housing office to tackle a growing homeless problem and the dearth of affordable housing.

"We are homeless!" shouted Reslin Pinano, 38, who lives in a car with her husband and 3-year-old daughter, during the gathering on the first floor of Honolulu Hale. After speeches and a prayer vigil, some 75 people who gathered for the event walked up to the mayor's office to sing and present a broom so the issue is not left "under the rug."

Rae Gee, city executive assistant on housing, told the group that she would relay their concerns to the mayor.

The city has said there isn't enough money to re-establish the housing office.

Before the event, Gee said the mayor "still feels that there's no need for a housing office."

The gathering was organized by Faith Action for Community Equity, which is pushing for the city to do more to address the lack of affordable housing. The Rev. Bob Nakata, the O'ahu FACE president, said there is no better time for the city to start looking more closely at ways to address affordable housing. "The city needs coherent housing policy, he said.

He said Honolulu is the only city in the nation with more than 200,000 people that does not have a housing office.

And, he pointed out, the other three Hawai'i counties all have housing offices.

"It doesn't do to say housing and homelessness are not county issues, he said.

The city housing department was dismantled after the 'Ewa Villages scam in 1998. Mayor Mufi Hannemann has disagreed that a special office needs to be set up to help create affordable housing.

"The people of Honolulu voted overwhelmingly to abolish city's housing department more than a decade ago, believing the city should not be in the business of developing and maintaining affordable-housing projects, and realizing that the private and nonprofit sectors could develop and manage affordable housing more economically and efficiently," city spokesman Bill Brennan said yesterday, in an e-mailed statement.

"That being said, the Hannemann administration stands ready to work closely with those who would develop and maintain affordable housing for our community."

But affordable housing advocates say the office needs to be part of a bigger solution to help tackle a growing homelessness issue. "We need to restart this thing," said FACE advocate Jun Yang. "There's no place to go (for help)."

The gathering came as the city is in the midst of selling its 12 affordable housing properties.

The properties will remain affordable, and the first is expected to go on the market early next year, city officials said.