Kapa‘a resident Peggy Field on Thursday asked the Kaua‘i County Council to work with Mayor Bryan Baptiste and real estate agents to help put Kaua‘i’s homeless people into permanent housing. But Field said she was upset the majority of the
Kapa‘a resident Peggy Field on Thursday asked the Kaua‘i County Council to work with Mayor Bryan Baptiste and real estate agents to help put Kaua‘i’s homeless people into permanent housing.
But Field said she was upset the majority of the council members remained silent on the issue during its meeting held at the historic County Building.
Only councilman Jay Furfaro, she said, offered comment he was asking for matching state funds to build a shelter for the homeless.
“I was screaming and yelling (about the plight of the homeless), and they just looked at me,” Field said in an interview with The Garden Island Saturday. “They were silent the whole time I was talking.”
Council Chair Kaipo Asing allowed Field to make her ten-minute presentation. She said real estate agents have made “millions on the backs of Kaua‘i’s people and the council should talk with them and have them help the homeless.”
“It is their (the real estate agents) duty to take care of the people (island residents) they made their money on,” Field said.
She said homelessness is a national problem and that people who can help alleviate the problem “shouldn’t turn their backs on the homeless.”
Baptiste has said he won’t turn his back on the homeless, and has been working organizations on the island to help ease problems faced by homeless people.
Baptiste said the county has been working with homeless folks individually to put them into housing, either with relatives, friends or community groups.
Baptiste also has pointed to other possible solutions, including creating more affordable housing through the expansion of Kalepa Village in Hanama‘ulu and the Pa‘anau complex in Koloa. Another possibility is creating new affordable housing on the North Shore, Baptiste has said.
The county has developed affordable housing in Kilauea that has allowed North Shore residents to remain in the region.
Field said one way politicians, business folks, Realtors and landlords can help is by making rental units they either own or control available to homeless folks.
She said real estate agents have ready access to rental housing, and that “they should be offering homes for rent they have now, and show they are part of the community.”
Field said her grown daughter and two teenage grandson face the real possibility of becoming homeless by the end of this month because the rental home they currently live in East Kaua‘i has been sold.
Field said her extended family isn’t likely to find alternate housing because homes on the island’s rental market are “too high” and because landlords are reluctant to take on renters with dogs. Her daughter has a dog as part of her family, Field said.
Field said the ‘ohana spirit “has evaporated as people become homeless, and “that is sad, because that is what we are known for, that is family.”
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
