Have you ever seen an igloo in Hawaii? The First Assembly of God church in Honolulu is looking to use white dome shaped structures that look like igloos to help provide a solution to the homeless problem Hawaii faces. The fiberglass domes are white on the outside which helps reflect the sunlight and keep the inside cool; 10-15 degrees cooler in fact. The domes are 20 foot wide, 314 square feet and can house up to four people. The First Assembly of God church owns land on the windward side of Oahu and plans to place twelve igloo homes on their property. By purchasing and constructing these igloos, the First Assembly of God will be providing around 48 people with a place to live. With shipping included, each igloo will cost around $10,300. Through its members and other churches in the area the Frist Assembly of God church has raised about $100,000 to fund the project.
Hawaii has the highest per capita homelessness rate in the United States. The city of Honolulu opened a similar type of shelter called Hale Mauliola using shipping containers to house homeless people. These containers provide shelter for individuals and families who are unable to afford the high rent costs in Honolulu. Average rent costs in Honolulu are around $1300 per month for a one bedroom apartment and can increase depending on the location within the city. Many people face the issue of not being able to afford the cost of living and end up living on the streets or in their cars. A former surf instructor, Clayton Gohier and his wife are an example of a family who could not afford the rent and were living out of their van. Through the shelter he is working to get a permanent home.
The First Assembly of God church wants to help give other people like Clayton a place to live until they can get on their feet and find a more permanent home. These igloos have also been used to provide shelter to those who have lost their homes in Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina. The domes have been used in other areas of the country to house the homeless but not many of them have panned out the igloo company founder, Asha Deliverance said. “It is a touchy subject because cities want to get rid of their homeless. They don’t want to support homelessness and what it attracts” Deliverance said.
This leads me to wonder, do cities build these shelters simply to clean up their streets so they are not embarrassed by the homeless people living in their cities? Or, do they build these shelters out of true concern for these individuals and a desire to help them? Based on the teachings of many churches involved in this type of work, especially in the case of the First Assembly of God, they tend to do this type of work to help their fellow man. Even if the city does have motives behind their shelters to ‘clean up their streets,’ I would like to believe that they have more of a desire to help people than to not.
Lisa
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-hawaii-homeless-igloos-20160428-story.html
contemporaryamericanreligion 
Cool story! I feel like since these igloos are being built by the Assembly of God church then they are truly trying to help those in need. While on the other hand it could be possible if the cities were building these shelters they could be attempting to just clean up the streets.
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I feel like this is a self serving act regardless of the idealized intentions. What I mean by this is even if the church is trying to provide homes for the poor they are still advertising their pious nature, which would increase their following. Ideally it would be because they are a church and there-for take care of the poor. Either way, homes are being provided for those who need them.
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It is good to see that there is some good going on in the world, rather than the news just promoting what they usually do. That is a good question though, if there are truly good intentions behind this project, or if it is “simply to clean up the streets”. This could be a hybrid of both, and here’s why. In history we have seen that churches sometimes are doing projects and things within society for the sake of their position or others perspectives on them, which is interesting considering most Christian perspectives tell the idea of not worrying about what others think of you. There could be the thought that this church is building these igloos so that they may help the city and the island look better, or there could be genuine intention behind it, but who knows.
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