A grassroots group yesterday delivered a letter signed by 400-plus Wai'anae Coast residents to Gov. Linda Lingle's office expressing concerns about new transitional housing and emergency shelters being built in their communities for the island's homeless population.

Members of the Wai'anae Coast Coalition said many of the estimated 2,000 to 4,000 people living on Leeward beaches are not displaced Wai'anae residents, so planned housing solutions should include other communities.

"The No. 1 issue for us is to make sure that whatever planning takes place to deal with homelessness, it's not seen as just a Wai'anae issue," said Joseph Lapilio III, the coalition's executive director. "It's important that Wai'anae take care of its responsibilities but we need other communities to do the same thing."

In its letter, the coalition recommended that local agencies and groups conduct a census of the homeless population and gather information on what their needs are; determine how many homeless people the Wai'anae community can assist and continue to shelter; and reframe the issue to clearly identify it as an O'ahu-wide issue.

"We need a full-on, islandwide conversation on what to do with housing and other definable causes to determine things we need to look at, like a public policy on mental illness," Lapilio said. "The situation we see on the beaches doesn't include people in downtown with mental illness sleeping in the doorway of shops. We all need to look at facts and deal with it.

"Wai'anae will come to the plate and participate."

Kaulana Park, appointed July 6 by Lingle as her administration's homeless solutions team leader for Leeward O'ahu, has met with coalition and Neighborhood Board leaders and is aware of concerns and solutions addressed in the coalition's letter.

Park yesterday said the state, for example, is no longer considering sites near Makaha Marketplace and the Wai'anae Mall for emergency shelters, one of the concerns raised by the coalition. The state is exploring Kalaeloa, one of the coalition's recommended sites, as a possible location for transitional housing or shelters.

"There's no silver bullet solutions," Park said, "meaning the state cannot be the one to solve homelessness. It has to be a collaborative effort between the state, city, private sector, military, nonprofits, faith-based community and residents.

"Our current focus is on the Leeward Coast because that's the largest concentration of homeless on the island. Kaka'ako is dealing with hundreds, (but) the Leeward Coast is dealing with thousands so the immediate need is there."

The state, Park said, agrees that homelessness is an islandwide issue, but the Wai'anae Coast community needs to be a big part of short- and long-term solutions.

"If it's not an us-versus-them issue, as the coalition says, there should be no fear," Park said. "We need the community to be actively involved in the solutions."

Park pointed to the community support for the state's temporary shelter in Kaka'ako as an example.

Park today is scheduled to brief city officials Debbie Kim Morikawa, director of community services, and Jeff Coelho, director of customer services, on state plans for helping the Wai'anae homeless beach population. Morikawa said the city is playing a supportive role and will aggressively seek federal funds to assist the state.

"Our position has been Wai'anae is not the only community that has homeless concerns, it's in Chinatown, Kailua, Waimanalo and islandwide," Morikawa said.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.