Kamali‘i Mini Park inhabits an inconspicuous, triangle-shaped parcel formed by Beretania and Fort streets, and Pali Highway. It’s long been a sad, semi-abandoned spot and rendezvous site for drug users and unsheltered sleepers; if it ever had a heyday, it’s long past.

The city now has a new vision for the parcel: affordable housing. More specifically, “the state’s first disability-forward workforce housing community,” to be developed by Pacific Housing Assistance Corp. and Lanakila Pacific, both nonprofits.

It’s an inspired idea. Affordable housing with on-site services benefiting people with disabilities — people most vulnerable to slipping through the cracks of Honolulu’s aid programs — must be a priority.

The co-developers have a track record in Hawaii: Lanakila Pacific provides inde

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