In planning

Our mission

A Hawaiʻi company with a different fix for homelessness: a real job, a real wage, and a home you helped build.

The 30-second version

Homelessness is hurting people, and it's hurting the businesses they sleep in front of. The Albizia Initiative is a Hawaiʻi company, now in planning, with a different fix. We'll hire houseless people who want to work. We'll pay them a real living wage with full benefits. They'll cut down albizia, the invasive tree that drops on our roads, homes and power lines. Then they'll mill the wood and build shelters. Those shelters will go into a TAI community on leased land outside of town, where people can work, learn a skill, or just live in peace. Your business can advertise on a TAI home, with your name above the door.

Three groups, one community

This comes from Jeff's brother, Pastor Bob, who ran the County's night cleanup crew in downtown Hilo for 13 years.

Ready to work

A real job on a W-2 paycheck, a living wage, full benefits, training, and the chance to build their own shelter and move in.

Done with the system

A safe, quiet place in the TAI community where they can be left alone with dignity. No pressure. The door to work stays open.

Need care first

A stable home base where nonprofits and health providers come to them, day and night, instead of downtown 9 to 5.

Where we are today

TAI is in the planning phase. We have not hired anyone yet, and no shelters or community exist yet. Jeff has already bought equipment to mill albizia logs and move them, including a Wood-Mizer sawmill. Jeff's albizia doors, built in 2013, have stood unpainted in Hilo weather since 2014 with no warping or termites.

Why a new approach? Hawaiʻi's State Auditor (Report 26-11) found mismanagement and questioned spending in the state's kauhale program. TAI's model is built to be paid for by work and advertising, not public money.