An acquaintance grabbed my ear recently saying, “Gary, how can we get rid of all these homeless people?” He went on to bemoan the presence of the poor and unwashed that seem to be sleeping under every bridge and in every doorway.
For the most part, I just let him talk.
“Why can’t they get a job like everyone else? There are job openings everywhere. Why can’t they take a bath, get off the streets, and stop begging in front of the convenience store?”
“Why don’t we just arrest them all and fly them back to where they came from?” he complained. “You can’t go anywhere without seeing them. They are at the beach, by the airport, along the road to Kealia, across from the mayor’s office — everywhere!”
He thanked me for my time and walked on, not really caring about what I thought.
Which is why I am here, writing this today.
The answer to getting rid of the houseless is to ensure we all have access to permanently affordable housing.
They are houseless, not homeless. Their home is on the streets. What they lack is a house.
Yes, certainly there are many other issues that include mental health and addiction. But it’s impossible to deal with these underlying issues effectively if the individual is living on the streets.
Kick them out? Tear down their tents and tell them to move on?
Kaua‘i Economic Opportunity (KEO) operates the only emergency shelter on our island, and has 165 people on their waiting list. Other transitional shelters on the island are also full.
There is literally no place for these folks to go.
As to “send them back to where they came from”…hello…according to recent counts of the houseless on Kaua‘i, only 3 percent of people experiencing homelessness on Kaua‘i are newcomers. The vast majority are long-term or lifelong residents, and Native Hawaiians are overrepresented.
Arresting poor people who cannot afford a warm, dry, safe place to sleep and who have no other option but to sleep on the street, in a doorway or in the bushes, is unconscionable — not to mention, extremely expensive.
Employers are hesitant to hire a houseless person who may come to the interview without a permanent mailing address and looking like they just woke up after sleeping all night in a doorway. It further reduces an applicant’s job prospects if they are missing teeth or have other health issues.
Even if they managed to get a job, it will of course not be paying a living wage. Even if they got two jobs, there are no affordable homes available. Period.
Whether freshly scrubbed, teeth or no teeth, good clothes or not — the challenge of finding an affordable home or even a room to rent is formidable — for everyone.
Yes, it’s complicated. No, it’s not complicated.
Ensuring access to affordable homes is the answer. Construct new, permanently affordable units, and prioritize access to new and existing units for long-term local residents earning local wages.
If government funding is used and/or government assistance is utilized, the homes built can legally be required to be permanently affordable, and long-time residents can be given first priority to rent and/or purchase them.
There’s no shortage of vacant land located in existing urban areas that already has the basic infrastructure (sewer, roads, water) and located near job centers, shopping, schools and health facilities. Private lands can be purchased at fair market value by the county or state, and/or landowners could be incentivized appropriately in return for providing permanent affordable housing for locals.
There are good things happening now at both the state and county levels, but much more is needed. The houseless situation and the extreme lack of affordable housing need to be treated like the dire emergency they are.
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Gary Hooser is the former vice-chair of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and served eight years in the state Senate, where he was majority leader. He also served for eight years on the Kaua‘i County Council, and was the former director of the state Office of Environmental Quality Control.
Good article Gary H. I also believe it is very important to engage the family of those who are near homelessness prior to being homeless. In so many cases those families want to help their family member but need extra help. The VA now gives money monthly to family members to assist the vulnerable Veteran. We need to support these families- perhaps help pay rent, help them maintain a workable vehicle for the near homeless person. Once a person becomes houseless it is so difficult to return to living in a house. Need to really look at preventing homelessness as part of the solution.
Also really like the idea that Maui County has recently started- dedicating a park area for a safe place for a houseless person to park their vehicle in a safe place from 10 pm to 7 am- so they can get a good night sleep and able to work.
In 2022 the count conducted by the Kauai Housing Agency came to 444 houseless living on Kauai. At 300 sq ft per person, the size of the average hotel room, that’s less total space than the size of the Lihue Costco. Or eight smaller structures built in locations all over the island housing about 55 houseless per structure. It’s not impossible, if there were a will to house the houseless, there is a way.
“Ensuring access to affordable homes is the answer. Construct new, permanently affordable units, and prioritize access to new and existing units for long-term local residents earning local wages.”
Gary:
Where?
Who pays?
Discriminate against “non-locals”?
Brilliant as usual. Hooser in his progressive delirium continues to look at government as the solution, the savior…to a problem CAUSED by government. Poorly conceived land-use, environmental and zoning laws, obstructionist bureaucrats and politicians are the essence of the housing crisis. No matter though, you’ll never hear a bureaucrat, politician or progressive pipe dreamer like Hooser admit that government is the problem and NOT the solution.
Ten years from now we’ll be hearing the same lame whining.
RSW
Kauai, because of its gentle climate, is an ideal place to either build tiny houses or purchase and install kit tiny houses. To blame the houseless for their predicament is both useless and mean-spirited. I does nothing to ameliorate the situation.
Gary how about
With the huge surplus that the County revenues generated in 2022 from the TVR and 2nd home massive tax hikes, the county can solve the housing problem by doing what they said they would do with the taxes they claimed they needed to solve housing.
The County has significantly expanded over the last 10 years with pay raises for everyone last year. The increased traffic from Kapaa to Poipu over the same period has brought traffice during peak periods to a stand still.
Kauai its time to stop blaming everyone else for the housing problem and require the Mayor and the Council to do their jobs, do what they said they would do and create affordable houseing with the windful of money created by taxing TVR and 2nd homes.
It’s about time someone steps up, thank you Gary Hooser for your continous support of Our people!!… I don’t know if your familiar with KHAO on MAUi… Our people is iN dire Need of A Facility Like that one, if you aren’t familiar can you see it iN ýour heart tO set up A visit tO MAUi~ ANd Seè the Beautiful SheLter they have Built for the people oF MAUI. ANd visitors ALike…. it’s such heartfelt place.. tO where they gear you intO self sufficiency, A Large gated community… everyone talks about doing things for our houseless people on KAUAI but I haven’t seen anything yet! I been bringing this facility up for years!!!!!…. why not build A FACILITY LIKE KHAO that’s on MAUI, here ON KAUAI… please don’t tell me KAUAI doesn’t have the Finances… didn’t they just spend something Like 43MILLION resurfacing poipu?? MAHÀLO FOR ALL YOU GARY HOOSER….
I like facts in order to reach opinions on serious issues. Your statement, “only 3 percent of people experiencing homelessness on Kaua‘i are newcomers. The vast majority are long-term or lifelong residents, and Native Hawaiians are overrepresented.” is so vague, that is totally lacks any credibility. What is a newcomer? What are long-term residents and what does it mean that Native Hawaiians are overrepresented? How do you define Native Hawaiian? Look, the real fact is that Kauai is a very desirable place to live, much like Tokyo, New York City, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, etc, etc, and not everyone who wants to live in desirable locations can afford to do so. Should taxpayers foot the bill so that everyone who wants to live on Kauai has housing? This is a private sector matter controlled by the laws of supply and demand. You can’t solve unsolvable problems by taxing the rest of us.
Definitely agree there is a need for more permanent affordable housing, and the county should use some of the new budget bounties to fund it (and also fix the Kapa’a crawl before the end of the century). However, some of the most visible people living rough are never going to willingly live in housing. Why would an old guy on social security move out of a beautiful beachfront public park in paradise that would cost $30M to own in order to live in a tiny house hidden away in town? He won’t.
Many people need affordable housing. Some people need forced substance abuse rehab or mental health care. And some people need to be told they can’t live in public spaces just because they want to.