Frequently asked questions

TAI is a for-profit Hawaiʻi company (JKG Inc dba The Albizia Initiative) in the planning phase. It plans to hire houseless people who want to work at a living wage to clear invasive albizia, mill the wood, and build shelters for a community on leased land out of town. A hand up, not a handout.

Not yet. TAI is in planning. No one has been hired, and no shelters or community exist yet. Pictures on this site are illustrations of what we're working toward.

Albizia is a fast-growing invasive tree in Hawaiʻi. Its branches and trunks fall onto roads, homes and power lines, and removing a single hazard tree can be expensive. Milled correctly, it makes good lumber.

Through work and advertising: paid tree clearing for landowners and along power lines, lumber, and local businesses buying a $15,000 advertisement on a TAI home. TAI does not ask for donations.

No. It is advertising with set deliverables: your business name prominently above the entry of a TAI home. Advertising is generally deductible as an ordinary business advertising expense, not a charitable donation. Check with your tax advisor.

Three groups: people ready to work, people who are done with the system and want to be left alone with dignity, and people who need medical or mental health care first, with providers invited to come to them.

In Hilo on Hawaiʻi Island, then statewide, then as a nationwide hire-the-homeless model.

HUD's 2024 AHAR counted 11,637 people experiencing homelessness in Hawaiʻi on one night in January 2024, or 81 per 10,000 residents.

100% of store sales support TAI.