Hawaii's Homeless

[pzarquon]

Honolulu among 'meanest' to homeless:

When it comes to the treatment of homeless people, Honolulu has been named one of the top ten "meanest cities" and the state of Hawaii named the third "meanest state," according to the National Coalition for the Homeless... This year, Honolulu ranked ninth (of 179 communities surveyed)... Honolulu was ranked 19th in 2003 (of 140 surveyed), and one of the 12 "meanest cities" (of 80 surveyed) in 2002.

I know our own Albert can offer a singularly insightful perspective on the plight of the homeless in "paradise," but I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts. The reasons for the numbers living on the street are varied, and it seems everyone has a theory, or an unusual story, or a personal connection...

The cost of housing, and the cost of living, is up there. And for those who may probably never make the transition to personal housing - for any number of varied reasons - the facilities and resources available to those permanently homeless are simply overwhelmed. It seems to me the money we expend chasing people from one park or neighborhood to another (knowing full well they'll be back the next day) could be better spent... and some hard decisions will have to be made, despite the NIMBY outcry that will inevitably come.

And, as has been acknowledged, the visibility of our homeless problem has a direct impact on what is, for better or worse, our primary industry. I cringe when I read online postings or even professional travel reviews that make note of the people sleeping in doorways or dragging ten shopping carts around town.

What's your take?

[Miulang]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Honolulu among 'meanest' to homeless:
and some hard decisions will have to be made, despite the NIMBY outcry that will inevitably come.

And, as has been acknowledged, the visibility of our homeless problem has a direct impact on what is, for better or worse, our primary industry. I cringe when I read online postings or even professional travel reviews that make note of the people sleeping in doorways or dragging ten shopping carts around town.

What's your take?

The homeless "problem" is critical in many of the larger metropolitan areas, but as you explain, Ryan, the reasons for homelessness are as varied as the number of people who live on the streets. Some of the blame can be placed on our social service and mental health systems, who deinstutitionalized lots of mentally unstable people but gave them no alternatives once they left the system. Up here, many of the homeless men are casualties of Vietnam and we have our fair share of alcoholics and drug addicts, too. The women and children might be running away from domestic violence.

The homeless have it a little easier in Hawai'i (except for the occasional harrassment by police) because you have no cold, rainy winters to deal with. Up here, we have hundreds of homeless people who live on the street by choice because the shelters are overcrowded and services are hard to come by. On really cold nights, the City will open up emergency shelters for these people, or the shelters offer no real sanctuary because of stealing or worse.

We also have "tent cities" where groups of homeless people come together and form tent communities, with rules and regulations for admittance, which have to move every 3 months to a new location. Thus far, the 2 active tent cities have been lucky because a church group has always stepped up to welcome the transients. Even with the "NIMBY" outcry from certain yuppie neighborhoods, there hasn't been a marked increase in crimes whereever the tent cities have been set up. This is an irrational fear of residents who don't understand the reasons why someone might choose to be homeless, or that, in many cases, the objectors may only be a paycheck or two away from being faced with the same situation.

I personally think that rather than spending the money to keep homeless people off the streets and beaches, the State and counties use that money to set up social service programs to help these people find the health care, educational and housing resources they need to be able to become productive citizens again. Hiding or denying the problem of homeless people doesn't mean the problem is going to go away.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

There's an article in today's Advertiser about the "tent city" that's emerged in Waianae. I personally think it's a good idea of have these groups of people organized into communities with rules and regulations and it's not a good idea for the NIMBYs to try to deny that the homeless problem doesn't exist in Hawai'i.

If the churches on Oahu could practice what they preach and kokua and "adopt" these transients by providing meals and social services, they would be helping in 2 ways: it would help the homeless with needed services, and it would help the souls of the congregations that help out the homeless.

Miulang

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../ln/ln07p.html

[scrivener]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

If the churches on Oahu could practice what they preach and kokua and "adopt" these transients by providing meals and social services, they would be helping in 2 ways: it would help the homeless with needed services, and it would help the souls of the congregations that help out the homeless.

I think this is a little low.

First, How aware are you of what churches on Oahu are doing for people in need? Without even thinking very hard, I can think of four churches in my own denomination who have food pantries and clothing closets for people who need them. Within my own denomination, I know of one program aimed at getting people job training and job placement and one program aimed at helping battered spouses and their children. And I can say with certainty that I'm just scratching the surface.

Second, it seems a bit strange to point fingers at churches and say, "Practice what you preach" about the homeless. It's a huge problem, and maybe churches are doing what they can. If people are so concerned that the churches aren't doing enough, why aren't they getting involved in any of the religious or secular organizations that are trying to make a difference? A church is a group of concerned people who happen to be affiliated because of their common faith; there's nothing stopping non-church-affiliated people from hooking up and doing something themselves.

This is not to say that every church is doing everything it can about the homeless; the truth is, there are a lot of other social concerns, and some congregations focus on those: keeping terminally ill hostpital patients company, helping the elderly with housekeeping chores they can no longer do themselves, tutoring students having difficulty in school, assisting international students with learning English and with filling out paperwork or finding places to live, providing workshops for "suddenly single" divorcees in difficult transitions, and offering families free, qualified, professional family-counseling when they're having difficulty. These are just some of the programs in my own denomination that make an effort to reach out to the community.

Could churches be doing more? Undoubtedly, but it seems unfair to accuse them of not practicing what they preach.

[Miulang]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Up here, it's the local churches who have opened their doors and their hearts to the homeless. They are the ones who are allowing the homeless tent cities to set up camp for 90 days at a time on the grounds of their churches (that's because of a city ordinance that only allows transients to be in one place for 90 days at a time).

I'm not saying all churches have turned their backs on the homeless, and a lot are also heavily engaged in other types of social action too, related to children and women suffering from domestic violence.

What I am suggesting is that the churches who don't yet have a social action cause domestically should look into ways to help the homeless neighbors rather than allow communities with NIMBY attitudes to keep these people from getting some badly needed services. And as a secular person, believe me, I do what I can to support the homeless up here by donating food and blankets to the tent city dwellers. I also contribute to the local foodbank in my neighborhood because I know that I could be one or two paychecks from being in the same situation as some of these people.

Miulang

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Up here, it's the local churches who have opened their doors and their hearts to the homeless. They are the ones who are allowing the homeless tent cities to set up camp for 90 days at a time on the grounds of their churches (that's because of a city ordinance that only allows transients to be in one place for 90 days at a time).

I'm not saying all churches have turned their backs on the homeless, and a lot are also heavily engaged in other types of social action too, related to children and women suffering from domestic violence.

What I am suggesting is that the churches who don't yet have a social action cause domestically should look into ways to help the homeless neighbors rather than allow communities with NIMBY attitudes to keep these people from getting some badly needed services. And as a secular person, believe me, I do what I can to support the homeless up here by donating food and blankets to the tent city dwellers. I also contribute to the local foodbank in my neighborhood because I know that I could be one or two paychecks from being in the same situation as some of these people.

Miulang

Eh Miulang not to rag on you (but I am cuz I tink we stay good friends now ) but when I was on the board of trustees at Waiokeola Congregational Church (UCC) on Kilauea Avenue across the street from Kahala Mall, our church not only help fund the Waikiki Health Center but we also donated our time and money to help them as well as provide a place for AA meetings.

Every year we would sell Koala Moa chicken as a fund raiser for the church. Virtually all of us (about 250 members) bought each of the ten tickets we were supposed to sell and we ended up donating the cooked birds to organizations to feed the hungry. Das a lot of birds!

Believe it or not churches provide the much needed public support for the homeless as well as battered citizens of our country. If it weren't for churches and other civic organizations (but churches in particular because of their moral code of conduct), our governmental social welfare system would be taxed to the point where it would imping on other much needed government services such as public schools, public health and safety, and other social services for gap group individuals (not poor enough for government subsidy but poor enough to suffer financially).

And even then, a lot of churches including Waiokeola has pre schools and some even have K-12 to take some of the student population off of the public school system as well. Yes we charged a tuition however because I was on the board of trustees, we also waived a lot of it for needy families. Their names were kept confidential even from the board itself and we only saw the circumstances of the family's financial situation. Guess what, Kamehameha schools is one of those institutions that give financial aid to just over 70 of it's student population.

Churches provide facilities for AA, Toastmasters, and other organizations that help people in need but have no place to hold their meetings. These individuals are on the fringe on becoming destitute but organizations like these help these people cope with their social deficiencies before they become statistics or criminals in our social justice system.

Churches even open their doors during service to help those who have lost their ways and need some spirital guidance. Our congregation always welcomed in strangers and afterwords we would talk to those who stray in and ask them if they would like our support for virutually anything from sparing a few bucks to providing a home while they search for one themselves. Pastors provide meaningful dialog to coax them back into a world of hope.

Churches provide a lot of help and support because of it's moral conviction to help those in need and they do it everyday not just on Sundays or on the holidays. Governmental Social Services agencies open their doors basically during normal business hours with most hotlines manned by volunteers mostly from church groups who donate their time for those causes.

Churches really do a lot, JUST LIKE STARBUCKS WHO GRACEOUSLY DONATED THEIR BEST COFFEE TO THE TROOPS IN IRAQ...yes Miulang a pretty obvious plug for your investments

BTW I made some really great coffee from NYC with the help from that grinder you sent me...need more One Ton Pi chips?

[Miulang]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Eh, OK. So if all da Honolulu churches too busy wit their own social action projects, I still like know who going help da homeless people who stay camped out in Waianae den? Den wen go get demselves all organized into one community wit rules and regulations and dey been waiting since Sept. for kokua. All dey been getting is da stinkeye from dakine people who have businesses nearby.

Miulang

So wat kine coffee you wen get from NYC? Chock Full O'Nuts 8 O'Clock coffee? Dat kine best when get half milk and half coffee.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Believe it or not a lot of homeless choose to live that way. When I used to work the soup lines we used to recommend shelters and even places to stay offered by our church members. They tell us that they like living without having to pay rent.

Others who live in those shanty towns are there because they were kicked out of shelters because of their actions (typically drugs). But for those who are there because there's no other place to live, there are shelters for them and households that are out there, just not enough of them.

I can understand some of the reasons why businesses shun these transients. I've seen them harass patrons to the point where customers don't want to shop there. The reason why some of these transients are there is because at one point these businesses did cater to them giving them free food, but then they would keep coming back or they would bring their friends. Eventually the storefront would become a meeting place for vagrants who swear, fight, and even do drugs right in front of the stores!

At that point the store owner calls the police and thats when the hatred begins from both sides. I've given food and money to these people. Some are grateful and say thankyou, others look at me and tell me they're not charity cases and literally throw the food on the ground but take the money!

I've served in the soup lines and have had food thrown back at me, one homeless man even spit into the pot I was dishing the soup out of. We had to throw out that whole pot. Helping the needy is like being a special needs caretaker. You get burned out real fast after enough of these needy people lash out at you because you're in a higher social order than they. But we stick it out because there are support groups for those of us who choose to help those in need and look past those who are bitter at the world. They still need help whether they realize it or not and we are there for them.

Our governmental social welfare system is there for a reason, it's to help those who have fallen on hard times and are in need of temporary assistance. They are proud people but also know when to ask for help. They are required to follow strict guidelines of performance and follow ups to ensure no fraud and they willingly do so.

It's those who cannot think for themselves or choose to live independantly from society that the media focuses on and for that there's not much any organization or individual can do for them. A lot of them are violent and because of that civic groups help them from a distance by offering these soup lines.

It's a tough life but for those who choose to live that way, society doesn't owe them a nickle. But for those who did not choose to live in a life of poverty, our government, churches, civic groups, and other charitable organizations and individuals are there to help them. I wish our newspapers would focus on these groups and people who deserve an appreciative nod when they're out there on the front lines helping those who cannot help themselves. That appreciation goes a long way for them and they do it unselfishly.

Eh Miulang, the coffee is from Unique Coffee Roasters Vanilla Nut-New York City Roast with 100% Colombian Supremo beans with sharp nut flavor enchanced (yes enchanced) with sweet warm vanilla notes. That's verbatim right off the label. www.uniquecoffeeroasters.com Staten Island, NY

As Austin Powers said, "Kinda has a nutty flavor to it doesn't it?" Hmmm I think UCR should consider changing the description a bit.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Not all homeless people have no homes, either. My aunty (now deceased) had schizophrenia and although she had a place to live at a care home, back in the 1980s my dad would get calls several times a year from aunty's social worker saying, "please go get your sister, she's at 'A'ala Park and won't go home". What can you do, you can't lock them up and prevent them from leaving.

[Albert]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

No comment.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

that was one

[1stwahine]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Hawaii's Homeless...the recent evictions of several Homeless People from Wahiawa and Ewa Beach this past week hit home for me. After my husband passed away, my children and I became Homeless by choice. We didn't want to stay with any relatives for we wanted to be by ourselves as we were in mourning. Luckily, for us there was at that time The Kokea Family Shelter for Women and Children. It was like any apartment complex so we had our privacy. We paid rent according to what our income was. We finally got into housing at MWH...a total different LIFE STYLE to what we had when he was alive. Many in Hawai'i are just a paycheck away or due to an unexpected illness,accident that can occur. No one is safe.

Then there are those who just don't want to better themselves cause why should they. They recieve benefits, get free food at IHS or River of Life, Churches, etc. Free medical, dental and a bed if they want at IHS (if they make it by 9:00 pm. The women's shelter, if you get there late, SORRY, you can't get in cause NO BEDS! So they sleep on the street and become victims to rape, beatings and the like.

Aala Park is once again looking like it was when FASI was in office. Remember the big tent they had there? Take a drive and see for yourself, how bad it is. They even are starting to hang their washed clothes with strings or on the fences.

If they keep evicting the Homeless, where does the Homeless go? Ala Moana Park and Kewalo Basin area is full. There has been several murders as well. Are they in your neighborhood? What do we do? What can we do?

[Albert]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

"If they keep evicting the Homeless, where does the Homeless go?"

Well, exactly. This latest eviction from the Ewa Beach area means, reportedly, 100-150 people will have to find somewhere else to sleep.

So we can have another "marina and resort". Just what Oahu needs.

[alohabear]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

I personally think that rather than spending the money to keep homeless people off the streets and beaches, the State and counties use that money to set up social service programs to help these people find the health care, educational and housing resources they need to be able to become productive citizens again. Hiding or denying the problem of homeless people doesn't mean the problem is going to go away.

On payday do you go to the bank.... cash your check...then go on the street and give it to all the homeless who need it? No? Why not? That's what you're asking goverment to do. Think About it.

You should help yourself before asking others to help you.

[1stwahine]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

You should help yourself before asking others to help you.

Many don't want the HELP! Remember the guy with the shopping cart that was found dead with thousands of dollars in it? Then there are those whose welfare benefits stopped due to the State's Limitations. Even those with children. There have been many programs that was and still is available for them to learn a skill and become productive again. One such program was WORK HAWAI'I!

There are many bad to good stories. The problem nowadays, it's good to bad.

The question still remains...Where do the HOMELESS go when their being evicted? Aala park is in my neighborhood. The Bus Stop across the street, Tong Fat Building has benches for Bus Riders. You can go there 24/7 and there's no riders sitting on it but HOMELESS PEOPLE with their bottles of Liqour, bottles of Beer in brown paper packages and at night...in the back of FHB they smoke CRACK COCAINE or ICE!

yEP, I feel for the HOMELESS to certain degrees. I also know what type of Homeless individual I feel sorry for, and that is wrong of me. However, I don't just think or wonder how I can help the issue. I donate clothes, have upon many occasions fed the Homeless and most of all I keep them in my PRAYERS!

No one is too far gone to be treated or looked down upon because they hit rock bottom. We are all human beings and the richest gift for us all is to help our brothers and sisters in need. I know, I was one of them!