"There's going to be a major health problem if we don't partner up, work together and not work against each other -- and we're asking for that coming together to try to do this," Caldwell said.



But the Mayor's request is not in the current version of the city's budget.



"He has more people than necessary I think and to grow the budget that way -- I'd rather use the money on the programs," said District 5 Council member Ann Kobayashi.



The administration says without those positions, nine housing projects currently in the pipeline will be in jeopardy and far less homeless will be moved off the sidewalks.



"We don't have a housing department and we have a housing problem. We need to hire some people now and funding is being cut," said Amemiya.



Council member Kobayashi says the real obstacle is compassionate disruption has created new problems elsewhere.



"When the mayor introduced that sit-lie concept to try to solve the problem in Waikiki, I kept saying that then they're going to move into other areas and sure enough the homeless people moved across the Ala Wai and now they're in McCully and Mo'ili'ili. We just have to build more housing. That's what we need affordable housing, affordable rentals," said Kobayashi.



But Amemiya says that can't happen without a dedicated staff of experts. Right now, his staff is currently being paid through Housing and Urban Development grants and salary savings -- but he says that funding will not be available next year.



"The people who suffer are those that are currently homeless those that are going to be homeless as well as many other people that are just struggling to get by," said Amemiya.



With area shelters often at capacity, Hawaii News Now has asked from the beginning: why start enforcements when there wasn't enough housing to moving the homeless into? City officials say they had to take an aggressive approach to deal with the overwhelming number of complaints they were receiving and the critical sanitation issues. Caldwell's administration says they have budgeted a record $50 million to identify, create and reach out to the chronically homeless than get them into housing. They say while that progress hasn't been as immediate, they are making serious strides that will be derailed if the council cuts these positions.