Hawaii Island residents struggle to make ends meet on minimum wage

Hawaii’s minimum wage workers began earning $8.50 per hour earlier this year, following the second of four incremental increases to gradually bring the state’s starting hourly wage to $10.10 — President Obama’s national minimum wage goal.

Lawmakers passed the wage plan in 2014 in part, hoping it would better align worker wages with the state’s high cost of living.

But some question whether it’s enough. Stats from the National Low Income Housing Coalition show one would need to make about $31.61 per hour to afford a two-bedroom home in Hawaii. By comparison, in Oregon, where minimum wage is currently $9.25, one would need to earn only $16.61 to afford the same home.

Living wage — the amount actually needed to meet basic needs — ranges $10.37 for a single adult in Hawaii County and up to $37.95 for a single adult with three kids, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology living wage calculator.

“The minimum is really just that,” said Rep. Mark Nakashima, a Hamakua Democrat who supported the wage increase. “It’s kind of a floor, but it’s by no means a living wage.”

Nakashima said the wage plan was a “reasonable goal” given the fact the minimum hadn’t moved since 2007. But he said lawmakers are constantly mulling other ways to help hourly workers through job creation and making higher paying jobs more accessible.

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald sat down with four East Hawaii minimum workers to hear what they think.

Lacy Lively, 31.

“Can I even afford oil?”

It’s not a question any car owner wants to ask, but recently, Lacy Lively had to — and she couldn’t. Instead, she drove her 1998 Isuzu Rodeo as long as she could until it ran bone dry. Eventually it gave out, and Lively was faced with a costly repair and temporarily car-less.

“My car is breaking down, literally because I cannot afford oil,” she said later that day, wiping away tears. “It should have lasted longer, but I cannot afford oil. I’ll tell myself, ‘It’s OK, just go, go, go.’ And it becomes a bigger expense.”

Oil isn’t the only basic necessity, Lively, a single mom supporting three kids on minimum wage, goes without in order to save money. The family of four shares a cramped $600 studio apartment in Hawaiian Paradise Park — it’s all they can afford.

Lively stalled for months after the deadline passed to register her car, because she couldn’t manage the fee. “Self treats,” as she calls them, such as pedicures, are out of the question. Even school pictures of her children are impossible.

“Every time my kids come home with (the school picture forms), I can’t do it,” she said.

Lively isn’t complaining. She said she is grateful to wake up each day “with another breath.”

“But we miss out on all kinds of stuff,” she said.

Lively works full-time at a local trucking company and is grateful for the steady paycheck and hours. She receives food stamps and intermittent child support from the father of one of her children, but largely she’s financially on her own. As a result, just about 100 percent of her paychecks are spent on basic necessities. Many months she’s even in the red.

As recently as last fall, Lively and her kids were homeless, even though she was employed full time at minimum wage.

“There’s all this talk about homelessness and I was literally homeless with a job,” she said. “There’s all these people who don’t want help and are like, ‘Leave me on the street.’ And then, there’s people like me, who are right on the line, who cannot go get (many) services or help. (Lawmakers) need to come up with help something for people who are on that line of, if I don’t go to work, I don’t have anything to fall back on.”

Stats show the living wage for Lively would be close to $38 per hour. She said she would be happy even with $15.

“(Fifteen dollars per hour) would mean, I could probably afford private spaces for me and my family,” she said. “Not a mansion, just a little bigger house. (It’d mean) I’d be able to know, at the end of two weeks, I don’t have to borrow money. Being able to buy a freaking Christmas tree instead of going to the recycling place. Being able to have shampoo and conditioner. Or, just be able to (take a trip) to Kona with my kids — we’d love to do that. I know it sounds crazy, but just simple things.”

Justin “Ola” Lee, 37

Justin “Ola” Lee admits he’s made a few mistakes in life, but these days, he is very clear — he wants to turn things around. Up until recently, he was incarcerated. Now out of jail, he’s employed as prep cook/dishwasher at a local food establishment. His goals are simple. He wants to finish his GED and spend more time with his teen daughter; he was behind bars during much of her youth.

“I want to build a relationship with her, go to school and save money to get a place of my own and get my own ride,” he said. “Just stay out of trouble and not get caught in the system again.”

Lee lives in subsidized housing through a HOPE Services housing program. Despite monthly housing costs being low, he’s having a hard time saving while building hours at a new job and earning rock-bottom wages.

“I’m busting my ass at (a) job, and it’s hard to save, pay and live in my own place,” he said. “I come home, and I’m tired and drained from my job, and I still feel like it’s just not enough money.”

Lee said he got caught up in drugs and trouble in his youth. Now, he’s adamant about staying away and surrounding himself with positive people. But it’s frustrating trying to get ahead when wages are so low.

“Sometimes I feel like, I’d (almost) rather be selling drugs,” he said. It’s not what I want to do, but it does go through my mind. I wouldn’t be so drained, I’d have more time for my classes and stuff, and I’d be so full of energy.”

“But I know, if I stay on this path, get connected with people … who are not criminals and getting their life together, that’s what I want to do,” he continued. “That’s what motivates me. I don’t want to go back into prison. I just want to stay out and do good.”

Janette Silva, 35, and Suzy Chun, 28

Janette Silva and Suzy Chun are among seven women sharing a Hilo home with subsidized rent for people working to stay clean and sober. Both have gotten into trouble in the past, but now are in a good place. They work at the same local restaurant — Chun’s a server and Silva buses tables. Each hopes to save money and eventually move into a place of their own. But it hasn’t been easy, and often they’re frustrated.

“Making $8.50 is barely even making it,” Chun said. “I love my job, but it’s just hard. There’s no way I could do it on my own right now. Rent in town is easily $1,200 a month, plus a deposit, so that’s $2,400. There’s no way on minimum wage I could afford that, with my check being like $400 a month.”

Silva said she’s contemplated getting two jobs or moving in with a friend. If she did get her own place, it would have to be a studio — “the kind with all utilities included.”

“If I had two jobs, that’s probably the only way I could do it,” she said. “They should really give us $10 an hour (immediately) and then we could actually make it out there on our own.”

Chun has kids who she would like to build relationships with and “make up for lost time.”

“But that’s like another thing,” she said. “You want to get the kids into sports and hula and all those added expenses. We want them to have a good life, because we don’t want them to end up like us. But it takes money, and there’s no extra money to do that.”

“Even though we can make it month to month, that’s all we’re doing,” she continued. “We make it because our rent here is cheap. It’s only $275 we pay, but we’re stuck here because we can’t save, we can’t afford a deposit for rent for our own place.”