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  • One Way Out?

    http://news.msn.com/us/hawaii-offers...et-off-islands

    Hawaii is trying a new approach to cut down on the number of homeless in the Aloha State: Ship some of them back to the mainland.

    Under a "return to home" three-year pilot program set to launch this fiscal year, the state will buy one-way tickets on planes — and possible even beds on cruise ships — to return eligible homeless people to their families in the continental U.S.

    Lawmakers have appropriated an initial $100,000 to fund the program, which will be run by the state Department of Human Services.

    The department has expressed concerns about the program's cost and the nature of services to be provided, among other issues.

    "The administrative requirements ... are costly and administratively burdensome," department spokeswoman Kayla Rosenfeld said Tuesday in a statement to MSN News. "Provisions include: transportation to the airport, orientation regarding airport security and ensuring proper hygiene. Additionally, if state funds were utilized for the purpose of sending people home, the participants would be required to sign voluntary departure agreements that would need to be recorded in databases.Given these requirements and others, and a minimal appropriation of $100,000 for a three-year pilot project, providers are understandably reluctant to take on a state-funded return to home program."

    "The DHS will continue to dialogue with the community around these issues. At the end of the day, however, we remain concerned this program is an invitation to purchase a one-way ticket to Hawaii with a guaranteed return flight home," Rosenfeld said.

    NO SILVER BULLET

    The program's supporters said the pilot is not a silver bullet in the fight against homelessness, but will help cut down on the millions the state spends each year on welfare and support services.

    "It's fractional, it's not for 5,000 homeless people. It's going to be a handful of homeless people that we send home … to their support unit," state Rep. John Mizuno was quoted as saying by Hawaii News Now.

    Related: Hawaii homeless preschool graduates 35 children

    Related: Homeless man returns $500 in found cash

    Related: Weather in Honolulu

    Rep. Rida Cabanilla said even if the homeless return after a few months, the state will have saved thousands of dollars on food, shelter and medical costs, Honolulu Civil Beat reported.

    Hawaii has an estimated 17,000 homeless people.

    The "return to home" program is voluntary. To be eligible, individuals must have a support system in place in their home state and be indigent and unable to fly back on their own. They can only participate once in the program.

    Paying to send homeless people away isn't a novel tactic. New York City, San Francisco, Baton Rouge, La., and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., are among the cities that have offered one-way transport tickets to homeless people.

    "These kinds of programs have been used historically to ship homeless people out of town," Michael Stoops, director of community organizing for the National Coalition for the Homeless, told MSN News. "In the homelessness field it was once called greyhound therapy. Hawaii now goes a step higher with airplane therapy. Oftentimes local police departments run such programs offering the stark choices of going to a shelter, jail or hopping on a bus or plane home."

    "If such programs are truly voluntary and that a home at the other end has been confirmed (not a shelter), this is acceptable," he said. "Some homeless people yearn to be reunited with their loved ones or wish to return to their home community."

    ____




    Isn't there a mainland program to send homeless OUT to HI? Or am I mistaken?

    Either way, seems like a pretty crazy program, and it's just misplacing folks that already need a lot more help than locality, I dunno. . . .
    flickr

    An email from God:
    To: People of Earth
    From: God
    Date: 9/04/2007
    Subject: stop

    knock it off, all of you

    seriously, what the hell


    --
    God

  • #2
    Re: One Way Out?

    Sounds familiar. My father was a county welfare director in Ohio in the late 50s, and regularly supplied native West Virginians bus fare to go back there, after they turned up in his county applying for welfare payments. Why did they do that? Couldn't get welfare in West Virginia, of course.
    Greg

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    • #3
      Re: One Way Out?

      Of course we have a long running and current thread specifically for these issues, but I'm sure it was just an oversight.
      This is old news no matter how hot off the press, and many of the questions are addressed in the aforementioned homeless thread.

      In reading the article it's obvious how stupid the effort is not to mention how easily it'll no doubt be misimplemented and the eventual/inevitable court costs. From it's too expensive to it'll serve a mere handful, plus the hoops they must jump thru to qualify as tho they even truly want to leave for wherever, and most are too messed up to even know what they want, it's just another out of touch bunch of stuffed shirt shibai that'll waste $$$ and end up hurting rather than helping. Not to mention the lack of Aloha it impies.

      Give me that measly $100,000, plus some land and men/machinery, I'll get the job done as well as can ever be dreamed. It really isn't that hard.
      https://www.facebook.com/Bobby-Ingan...5875444640256/

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      • #4
        Re: One Way Out?

        OMG Ron, you can't just dig a hole and bury 'em all!
        May I always be found beneath your contempt.

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        • #5
          Re: One Way Out?

          Originally posted by salmoned View Post
          OMG Ron, you can't just dig a hole and bury 'em all!
          You said it, sally, not with my bad back, that's why I need the men and machinery! 100Gs will make a nice hole tho.
          https://www.facebook.com/Bobby-Ingan...5875444640256/

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: One Way Out?

            Originally posted by Ron Whitfield View Post
            You said it, sally, not with my bad back, that's why I need the men and machinery! 100Gs will make a nice hole tho.
            Oh, gee. $500k will give us an acre on a stream, with facilities, area to pitch tents, on a bus line, area to grow veggies, etc.

            All we need is permission to be native Hawaiian!
            Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!
            ~ ~
            Kaʻonohiʻulaʻokahōkūmiomioʻehiku
            Spreading the virus of ALOHA.
            Oh Chu. If only you could have seen what I've seen, with your eyes.

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