The Executive Director of the Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority (HPHA), Hakim Ouansafi, engaged the University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center (UHCDC) to design and launch a COVID-19 resource website for the 40,000 residents that live in HPHA housing across Hawaiʻi.
School of Architecture graduate students, Kelii Kapali and Christina Holcom, assisted Principal Investigators, Karla Sierralta, AIA (Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture) and Brian Strawn, AIA (Senior Research Associate at the UHCDC) in launching www.hphaishereforyou.org in only two weeks.
This project is part of an ongoing research effort focused on Housing for All in Hawaiʻi, currently exploring the “Future of Hawaiʻi’s Housing” in a holistic way.
The website shares updates on HPHA-led initiatives such as rent adjustments, new access to online banking, eviction protection, at-home learning for children, meal delivery for the elderly, and the prevention of domestic violence. The website also serves as a one-stop location for all sorts of COVID-19 information from national and local sources.
Most critically, www.hphaishereforyou.org connects residents to a wide array of local non-profits and institutions offering access to meals, groceries, supplies, childcare, education, financial assistance, healthcare, transportation, technology, and social services.
The website is being launched with real-time translation into 15 languages; Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese (traditional), Chinese (simplified), Tagalog, Korean, Vietnamese, Samoan, Russian, Tongan, Thai, French, German, Spanish and Lao.
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