Homeless in Hawaii

[Nalu Mama]

quote:

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Originally posted by adias

I heard from a property management person that there are lots of rentals in the Puna region and quite a few of the renters are county subsidized housing.

This is probably how the county is handling the homeless situation on the Big Island.

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Subsidized housing (section 8) has a very long wait list and only covers PART of the rent. They are also very strict about the condition of the property. The family pays portion of the rent and all of the utilities and the deposit. The rent amount is based on income.
If your only income is say, a welfare subsidy or an SSI or SSD check, your rent should be fairly low. But- if you have ANY earned income, the rent goes waaaaay up!
That's how Hawaii handles Section 8. Other states, such as Oregon, are so much more helpful to families in need. In Oregon, my income was college grants and scholarships. I had Section 8. Not only was my full rent covered, I got a check every month from Sec 8 for my utilities! Why can't Hawaii do that? I asked. They say the amount of funds they get from the Feds doesn't cover being able to do that- the lady even threw back her head and laughed when I asked!

Breathe. Relax. Focus.

[Lewis]

Homelessness is likely to increase for the above reasons of housing shortage, lack of low income housing, mortgage crisis, number of veterans returning from Iraq/Afghanistan with mental and physical injuries.
I am currently in Northern rural CA and see homeless veterans frequently. Hopefully the next pres. will address this.
There was a story last year about a lawsuit with Native Hawaiians living on the beach on Oahu being "evicted" or moved off the beach that was interesting. The whole subject of native people's right to land. I think the person lost though.

Gordon

[AlohaSteven]

Addressing homelessness might happen most effectively at the state level or above, lest unintended negative consequences arise to penalize the success of humane efforts by specific islands or parts of an island.

It has been awhile since I lived in Berkeley and I do not know how the situation there is these days, but back when I did live in Berkeley unmarked white vans were observed routinely dumping out homeless people. The vans were coming over the hills from upscale locales in the Walnut Creek vicinity and elsewhere, where "security forces" either shoved or bribed homeless folks into vans, drove them to Berkeley, and literally kicked them out of the vans onto the streets of Berkeley with a warning to not return. The relatively humane local attitude and efforts toward the homeless, offering aid, not clearing out homeless people from sleeping in the parks, and so on in conjunction with the intolerance of surrounding areas led to a concentrating effect of homelessness in Berkeley. This in turn eventually led to problems which led to Berkeley passing city ordinances regarding aggressive pan-handling, more of a workload burden and expense on public health and law enforcement, and so on. Personally, subjectively, I think the ongoing dumping of homeless people locally also had an influence on a shift in local feelings about social problems in general -not exactly a hardening of the heart (that would be too simplistic a way to term it), but perhaps the development of a somewhat frustrated realism or slightly bitter maturity beginning to replace naive live-and-let-live idealism in the face of a difficult and intractably complex issue. Berkeley became more conservative through it all, in the sense that "a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged."

I know firsthand for a fact that hundreds (perhaps thousands) of the homeless people now in Alaska were put on airplanes headed to Anchorage from states in the Lower 48; this deportation appears to have been motivated more by the thought that these --often mentally ill-- homeless will find it more difficult to return from Alaska than that Alaska will do a better job in coping and caring than the point of origin. In other words, compassion does not appear to be a factor in this inter-state dumping of unwanted people. Alaska's relatively generous social system and yearly per-head payout of dividend money also attracts a steady influx of welfare bums and religious fanatics with huge families (the women are almost continuously pregnant; the girls are encouraged to drop out of school while still illiterate and to begin producing babies as soon as possible). Many of these are coming from overseas (e.g., Russia) as well as from the Lower 48; social frictions and significant increases in crime incidence and severity are often connected with this influx of people seeking to exploit local advantages yet who have no interest in "becoming locals" in the sense of adopting or even respecting local traditions, outlooks, or even learning the language.

It would be great to think that if Hilo and Puna really lean into the issues and successfully grapple with becoming "better places" for the homeless --and this acknowledging many among the homeless suffer through no fault of their own choices from mental illness, health problems (including traumatic brain injuries), addictions, or from simply losing a job in an expensive area and are not just lazy bums unwilling to work and welfare moochers-- that through succesful focus and devotion of resources the homeless situation locally may improve significantly. Maybe it would. Hopefully the homeless in other parts of the Big Island, the Hawaiian Islands, the mainland, and elsewhere would not then feel attracted to that success (or find themselves Hilo/Puna-bound in an unmarked van or on an airplane with a tiny bit of readjustment bribe money in hand and a one-way ticket after having been made "an offer you cannot refuse if you know what is good for you, or else").

I am not saying we should ignore the issues or refuse making a serious local effort to improve conditions, at all; I am saying that however well-intentioned a naive approach might be, it could conceivably make the situation worse and yield a compounded problem.

Effectively strengthening public education and health care in general, increased civic involvement and good leadership with regard to sustainable and environmentally sound economic development, and attention to the creation and preservation of diverse locally self-reliant employment and production systems (i.e., locally grown farmers markets vs imported produce) could do as much and perhaps more --long term-- to prevent and ameliorate the issues of homelessness as simply building homeless shelters or creating bigger pay-outs.

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Damon

I just read This story about a University of Wisconsin Football player from Kona thats family will soon be homeless.

Breaks my heart when I hear these stories of working families that still end up homeless.

I am a native Hawaiian currently attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I received a full ride athletic scholarship to play football at the University of Wisconsin. It is very difficult for me to concentrate on football and school, knowing that my family is going through legal hardships in Hawaii.....Currently my father is the only source of income for my family. He supports my family the best he can. It brings tears to my eyes to hear that my father�s hard work turned to heartache as he was told that my family had until February 1st to clear their things and leave the place we call home.... Hard working Hawaiians should never be evicted from their homes, especially those on Hawaiian homelands.....

Snippets of James Kamoku letter to HR.

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Coming home soon!

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A follow up article was written Yesterday in the Milwaukee paper.

One thing of note that really sucks...

Because Kamoku remains a student-athlete in the eyes of the NCAA, any contributions directly to him or to his family would be deemed a violation of NCAA rules.

From Jeff Potrykus

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Coming home soon!

[frankiestapleton]

The homeless situation here on the Big Island is DIRE, and getting worse as our economy tanks![]

There is NO homeless shelter in all of East Hawaii, not just Puna.[!] And there's a long wait list for the Kawaihae/Waikoloa shelter. That's just part of the justification for officials to turn a blind eye to the families squatting in sites around King's Landing, MacKenzie Park, and other parks. And it seems that community associations are hamstrung when it comes to trying to enforce CC&Rs against residents living in tents and other substandard dwellings within Puna's subdivisions, going months, even years sometimes without even rudimentary toilet facilities.

Since someone asked how the Puna Community Development Plan was addressing this issue, here is what I found in the Predraft Report that is currently being considered by those involved in this process:

Action items under Social Services and Housing:

-Seek additional locations for treatment and preventative social and health services in lower and upper Puna;

-Provide transitional shelter and programs to assist homeless residents move toward self-sufficiency;

-Increase the availability of accessible and affordable housing through self-help programs, government assistance and such innovative housing tenure arrangements as co-housing, limited equity cooperatives, and community land trusts that would facilitate home ownership for lower income residents;

-Support DHHL initiatives in developing housing and job opportunity projects for Puna's Native Hawaiians;

-Seek State enabling legislation to help lower self-help housing construction costs;

-Offer educational programs to develop financial skills of renters and rental strategies for owners and tenants;

-Promote multi-family and special needs housing in village/town centers;

-Amend building code to allow occupancy of residential dwelling before final inspection;

-Provide low-interest, sliding-scale loans for housing repair and renovations.

There is more support embedded in other sections of the Puna draft plan that speaks to lower-income population needs as well as to the need for overall growth management and planning. The Predraft plan is available online and in the public libraries. Two steering committee meetings at Keaau Community Center are scheduled for Feb. 7 and 28, beginning at 5:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. respectively, and the public is invited.

Don't forget, folks, we have elections on every level coming up this fall, including the mayoral race, council, (both of whom would have to accept and implement the Puna plan currently being worked on) and state legislators as well as nationally. And, believe me, your votes DO COUNT, especially locally! There is a voter registration form right in your phone book. And the local Democratic precinct meetings are coming up next month, I believe.

Remember, you ARE voting when you don't bother to vote. [8D] Malama pono, Frankie

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by alaskasteven

I know firsthand for a fact that hundreds (perhaps thousands) of the homeless people now in Alaska were put on airplanes headed to Anchorage from states in the Lower 48; this deportation appears to have been motivated more by the thought that these --often mentally ill-- homeless will find it more difficult to return from Alaska than that Alaska will do a better job in coping and caring than the point of origin. In other words, compassion does not appear to be a factor in this inter-state dumping of unwanted people.....

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Back in the early 1990's, Hawaii did the same thing! See this NY Times article about that!

....This city has about 30 fewer homeless people than it had a month ago because of a state program that provides free one-way airline tickets to those who can show they have homes somewhere else.
Most of the people taking advantage of the program are from the mainland, but a few are returning to homes on Hawaii's outer islands, said the Rev. Lee Kiefer, acting director of the Institute for Human Services, which is handling the program

And then you hear stories like This one where a Homeless Mental Patient from NY was given a one-way ticket too Hawaii.

The head of a New York organization that cares for mental health patients adamantly denies that it is paying for a client to come to Hawaii and says the group wasn't aware that the man would be living in a homeless shelter.



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Coming home soon!

[maud gonne]

While all the governmental and nonprofit agency solutions are best to "solve" or diminish the homeless problem, in the meantime...what we've been doing, without necessarily thinking of it as "helping the homeless," is letting in-between-homes type folks that we meet stay with us. After all, we have a big rambling structure with a good roof. We do try to set a departure deadline so that we don't get overwhelmed. In a tiny way I think we've helped several families. It all seems to start with picking up hitchhikers, as discussed in a different thread ("da thumb"). We've been ripped off twice in the last three months but I don't think it was our "houseguests." It may have been people they knew, however. This is a stumbling block.

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Damon

quote:

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Originally posted by Damon

I just read This story about a University of Wisconsin Football player from Kona thats family will soon be homeless.

Breaks my heart when I hear these stories of working families that still end up homeless.

I am a native Hawaiian currently attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I received a full ride athletic scholarship to play football at the University of Wisconsin. It is very difficult for me to concentrate on football and school, knowing that my family is going through legal hardships in Hawaii.....Currently my father is the only source of income for my family. He supports my family the best he can. It brings tears to my eyes to hear that my father�s hard work turned to heartache as he was told that my family had until February 1st to clear their things and leave the place we call home.... Hard working Hawaiians should never be evicted from their homes, especially those on Hawaiian homelands.....

Snippets of James Kamoku letter to HR.

-----------------
Coming home soon!

---

A follow up article was written Yesterday in the Milwaukee paper.

One thing of note that really sucks...

Because Kamoku remains a student-athlete in the eyes of the NCAA, any contributions directly to him or to his family would be deemed a violation of NCAA rules.

From Jeff Potrykus

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Coming home soon!

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And another follow-up on this by the Hawaii Reporter. In this report... there is the following tragic news:

...James did not find out until late December 2007, that the eviction was set for February 1, 2008. The process was so stressful that James’ grandmother died rather than move out. Her funeral was on February 1, her birthday, the date of eviction.

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Coming home soon!

[YurtGirl]

Absolutely, homelessness is a VERY real problem on our island. Here on the Big Island the areas that currently show the highest homeless count are in Ocean view, but we can see the effects at almost any beach or public park, even downtown Hilo in the storefronts after dark and the park at Bayfront. It is a problem in so many ways. Homelessness is a state of mind, often, more than anything else, a state of mind that can be very corrosive. It can stress a family unit, or a person's self confidence and self respect, which often results in more abuse, either to others, or to a person themselves. There is no way to trace the myriad of problems homelessness causes. Who wants to be homeless? Who would choose homelessness over a home? I'm not talking about wandering wanderlust in your youth (or old age) with a positive explorative outlook, I'm talking homeless, unsure of where your next meal, shower, belief that it's going to be alright, is going to come from. Many of our Ohana have been forced into tents, cars, under tarps, forced to wash their keiki at beach parks etc. This puts a lot of stress on the programs that are in place on our island to assist the secondary problems that very often arise from homelessness. Domestic violence aid, drug abuse treatment, mental health services, feeding the hungry, medical assistance for keiki, elderly, etc. The list goes on. We need to work toward permanent solutions, not just temporary alleviation of the symptoms. Admission that this IS a problem is the first step. Stepping up and offering assistance where you can is the second. CAP is just one of several great volunteer programs that work with other organizations to help find solutions to many of these issues. They are actively seeking members. If you are interested in what we do contact Julie Nagasako, the OSM or the CoC and ask how you can help. email me at bobby_mc_gee21@hotmail.com for further contact information.