HONOLULU (AP) — State officials say they have found private bidders to help clear out more homeless residents who have been camped along the Kakaako shoreline.
Anthony Ching, executive director of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, which owns the seafront parkland, has declined to name the interested parties because a deal has yet to be finalized. But the agency is currently in discussions with private contractors to help remove the homeless encampment sites, where as many as 100 people have been counted, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Saturday (http://bit.ly/1Q7TXUs).
“At this point we’re confident we’ll have sufficient staffing to conduct those enforcements,” Ching said. “We’re finalizing our protocols and procedures and staffing at this point.”
Sweeps to break up the homeless camps likely will not take place until after Dec. 9. That is when the HCDA is scheduled to review plans and procedures for conducting the sweeps, Ching said.
The move to break up the homeless encampments will be the second in Honolulu’s Kakaako neighborhood in recent months. The city spent weeks clearing out the “Kakaako Makai” encampment, where nearly 300 residents had been living. Many of those people have relocated to dozens of tents just blocks away, at the Kakaako Waterfront and Kewalo Basin parks.
It is not clear where those living at the camps will go next, if state officials move forward with clearing out the area.
Scott Morishige, the state’s homeless coordinator, said social service and outreach providers would help to give the homeless individuals at the shoreline parks options, such as shelters or the state’s Housing First Program, “if they choose to accept.”
“You cannot compel someone to go to a shelter,” Morishige added.
Eight private contractors recently turned down the HCDA’s request to submit bids on how much they would charge to clear encampments. The agency acknowledged that at least some of those contractors may not have wanted the high-profile publicity that comes with clearing out a homeless encampment.