Hawaii's Homelessness and Poverty

Problem of Beach Dwellers Ignored in Waikiki, Honolulu

I came to Hawaii in 2007 after living five years abroad in China, and was shocked to find a well-established homeless population running rampant and nearly unchecked in one of the most well-known tourist destinations of the world. It has little to do with the current economics and more to do with local politics, and the indifference of the authorities. I myself have been homeless here, and currently live in a transitional shelter, waiting for affordable housing.

I became homeless after living in Hawaii for 10 months. My personal story isn't complicated; I mismanaged my money and naively thought I could lean on friends until I bounced back. Unfortunately, one friend had to leave the country, leaving me without a place to stay.

I figured that the weather was great, and staying outdoors wasn't as bad as it might seem. Soon I was spending my nights in a park near the ocean, along with 20 or 30 others who came to the same conclusion; living outdoors in Hawaii wasn't half bad.

It is very easy to survive living out of doors in Honolulu. There are a number of places that I could go to every day to eat or take food with me. There are also organizations that distribute clothing and provide medical care. There is even a monthly newsletter, Street Beat, that provides information on where to get such services. It prints more than 4,000 issues a month!

If you take a walk along Kalakaua Avenue, you’ll see scroungy forms passed out from drinking beneath palm trees and bedraggled men and women sitting at tables and benches in the shade of gazebos meant to shelter tourists.

Invest in a Solution for Homelessness

It would make sense to invest whatever is needed to hide and take care of the problem. Yet, day after day, police ignore the large number of obviously destitute people occupying the park areas around Waikiki Beach. What can they do after all? What good would it do to arrest, or even harass someone who has nowhere to go?

I came across a two-part investigative story written as far back as 2003, detailing the growing problem of beach dwellers along the Waianae Coast, the long open stretch of beach land that lies south west of Pearl Harbor. At the time of that article, it was sited that the state believed there to be more than 6,000 homeless people residing somewhere on the Islands--that was nearly five years ago, what are the numbers now?

Rather than fix the problems facing the homeless, the authorities seem bent on compounding it. A great example was a recent law that went. In Kapiolani Park, located near the end of Waikiki Beach, a number of homeless began to set up tents at night under the cover of darkness. Many would break camp in the morning, although some would remain defiant, leaving their shelters up 24/7.

At first there were only six tents. After this was mentioned in a newspaper article, the numbers grew, to 12, then 20. Soon a law was passed, no sleeping in the park during darkness, yet they could leave up their structures during the day--does that make any sense? You would think that it would be beneficial to allow these people to sleep during the night, allowing them time in the day to find work, food, and whatever else they need. Not to mention that by allowing them to sleep at night, they could take down their dwellings at sunrise, and then be out of site of the tourists.

Considering how much money pours into Hawaii from the tourist dollar, I would think that locally they would be putting more money into sheltering these unfortunate people, develop work projects for them similar to FDR during the depression to at least give them a modest income of sorts.

As I contemplate my future, and make plans to return to Asia to live and work, I can only hope for the best for the people I have met while living on the fringe in Hawaii. Perhaps the state is expecting the tourists to take care of the homeless in Hawaii, yet when I see how carefully these world travelers skirt around the beggars and the destitute, I don't think that will work.