HONOLULU -- Gov. Linda Lingle on Thursday toured a public housing project, where 14 units have been changed to transitional housing for the homeless.

The governor's office had spearheaded the program, which officials said is temporary.

Viliamu Tuilata and his girlfriend, Tiffany Medeiros Leong, met the governor at the transitional unit at Puahala Housing in Lanakila. Tuilata said it is a big step up from where they were before.

"We stayed at her dad's house for a little while, and then um, we started living in my car, and then when my car broke down, we stayed in the park," Tuilata said.

The governor's office pushed for the project, in which 14 vacant units and surrounding areas were spruced up by prison help from Halawa Correctional Facility.

Lingle visited with some of the families, who moved from the state's emergency shelter in Kaka'ako.

In order to qualify to stay there, residents have to find work or go to school so they can move on.

"I would say that the general population here at Puahala got the best of the deal. They got 14 outstanding families who are striving to do better in life," Lingle said.

The transitional units themselves are temporary. After two years, the 14 units will be returned to the public housing inventory.

"It's meant to be an interim. It's not meant to be something we're going to do throughout public housing. It's just a way to give back at this time because there are no other transitions," said Kaulana Park of the Public Housing Board.

Residents also know it is a transition.

"That's pretty much our goal for now. Trying to get our life back on track and get out of this transitional shelter, into regular housing, where we can stabilize ourselves and it will be better for all of us," Medeiros-Leong said.