HONOLULU (AP) — Tony Nao stood under a tarp by a desk and mattress that he was about to abandon, wondering where he would spend the night when city crews cleared the sidewalk he called home for the past year.
“It’s a hard situation to experience. It’s not a joke,” said Nao, 39. “A man my age should know where he’s going.”
Honolulu city crews were clearing the final sections of one of the nation’s largest homeless encampments, once home to hundreds of people, on Thursday and Friday. They dismantled tents and structures held together with electrical tape, throwing the makeshift shelters into a garbage truck.
City officials estimated that about 100 homeless people were affected by the two-day sweep in a neighborhood with expensive high-rises near Waikiki, just steps from the Pacific Ocean.
But others thought that estimate was low, saying they thought at least 250 people were living in the camp when the final sweeps began Thursday. The section of the camp being emptied was home to many who had lived there for years, despite sporadic sweeps, and many carted their belongings to a nearby park, hoping to return in a few days.
Outreach workers had been canvassing the encampment and encouraging people to pack their belongings. They informed people who lived there that buses would take them to shelters in Honolulu, Waipahu and Waianae.
A handful of homeless people boarded a bus heading to shelters Thursday morning, but many people decided not to go, fearing they’d have to abandon pets, bicycles and other belongings.
“People are able to take a number of their possessions on the bus,” said Jun Yang, executive director of the mayor’s office of housing, adding that shelter spaces were set aside for people leaving the camp.
“You can expect all the homeless to spill into the other neighborhoods,” said Tabatha Martin, who lives with her 4-year-old daughter and husband in a section of camp set to be cleared Friday. “Nobody here has a plan, really.”
Kalani Kaumeheiwa, 22, headed out to Point Panic to body-surf Thursday, figuring he’d have time to pack up and move his belongings temporarily before his block was swept on Friday. “I’m planning to come back, pitch a tent and rebuild again,” Kaumeheiwa said.
The sweeps in the camp started in early September, but the city has been enforcing rules that prohibit where homeless can set up for years. Concerned business owners and residents have been pushing to clear the encampments, saying they are a nuisance to tourists and a public safety hazard.
Attorneys representing the ACLU and residents of the encampment have filed a lawsuit alleging the sweeps deprive people of their belongings.
The ACLU asked a judge to halt the sweeps, but its request was denied. The next hearing in the case is in December.
“How do you take nothing from a man who has nothing?” Nao asked. “Affordable housing is not affordable to me…You got a $1,200 apartment, but I’ve got an $8-an-hour job. You do the math.”
Scott Morishige, the state coordinator on homelessness, said social service providers have been going to the area consistently for the past couple of months and have helped 104 people move into shelters or permanent housing, with the help of interpreters.