Hawaii Island’s homeless population is growing at an alarming rate. In fact, it is not so much the homeless population, it is the unsheltered population, and Hawaii County leads not only the state of Hawaii, it very likely has one of the highest unsheltered homeless rates of any county in the United States of America. For children, that is certainly the case.
Assessing the 2015 Point in Time count reveals that Hawaii County has nearly triple the unsheltered population as does Oahu, when based on the percentage of total population. That in itself is alarming, yet consider the families, particularly the woman and children. On Oahu, as of last year’s PIT count, 88 percent of families with children who are homeless are sheltered. This number has little changed in the past five years. On Hawaii Island, six times as many families with children and abandoned adolescents are living in unsheltered conditions when compared to Oahu.
On Hawaii Island, there is little to no shelter space available, given that the number of beds has decreased over the past four years, while the unsheltered population has tripled and increased by 684 individuals. Next month, when the 2016 PIT count is revealed, we may see higher numbers that correlate with what many who deal firsthand with the homeless already know.
How do we compare nationwide? Nationwide, figures indicate that for all school-aged homeless children, only 3 percent are living in unsheltered conditions, with the majority housed in county and state facilities, shared homes, and motels.
Here in Hawaii County, an estimated 75 percent of homeless school-aged children live unsheltered, in cars, tents, and even in the brush. And yet, according to the State Department of Education in their McKinney Vento Act filing to the National Center for Homeless Education, as of 2013, only 8.8 percent of school-aged children were living unsheltered in the state of Hawaii.
The McKinney Vento Act 4, part of No Child Left Behind, contains within it certain federal mandates for protecting homeless children and ensuring the continuance of their education. All states with the exception of Hawaii have scores of agencies (LEAs) to report independently on homeless school-aged children. The state of Hawaii has but one, the Department of Education. There are 300 or more unsheltered children on Hawaii Island that should qualify for McKinney Vento Act protection that includes DOE organized and supported transportation to school. Yet it is up to the mother, many times a victim of domestic violence, unsheltered, possibly dealing with maintaining employment, who is the sole responsible party.
Does the DOE, or the health department, seek out unsheltered homeless children that are truant? No.
Do they communicate with social services or nonprofits that know where these children are? No.
Eight years ago, an injunction was filed by a federal judge ruling that the State of Hawaii Department of Education must fulfill its obligation to homeless children.
Here on Hawaii Island, the state Department of Education needs to be much more proactive in working with unsheltered families with children. These children must be housed and protected and given the chance to succeed. We need shelters first.
Homelessness on Hawaii Island has many categories: young individuals, veterans, elderly, PTSD, alcohol, drugs, mental disease, etc. A common denominator is that homelessness is a function of trauma, maybe not for all, but for the majority. Well over 40 percent of homeless women with children is a direct result of domestic violence. There is the trauma of war, of drugs, of financial ruin, of death of spouse, etc. To not have compassion for those who have reached such low points in their lives, and simply debate the minority of homeless that live within the lifestyle, abusing society norms, is not to understand the nature of homelessness. And we need shelters first.
I decided to walk around Hawaii beginning on Christmas Eve, to raise awareness. I walked around the island again four weeks later. On March 1, I am walking around the island for a third time.
My walks are what they are, mainly physical pain and mental duress, yet without suffering the way a homeless individual or family does. There is a sense of being an animal at times, and especially the thought that there is no tomorrow, no hope. I simply try to survive the day. What a horrible existence! Yet I have it easier than most, given an emergency team that finds me at the end of a 35-mile, 16-hour walk that I will repeat six times. In that moment, I receive protection, food, minor comfort such as 10 pounds of ice for my legs, and most important, communication and understanding, before I head out again six hours or so later.
At night, I may take a respite off the side of the road, but there is no sleep, not for a second. Why do homeless sleep in the daytime? Because they are protected by the daylight. The homeless, particularly the single men, face attack by youth gangs at night. They lose more than ID and money, and the few possessions that they might have.
I have understood what it is to be insignificant, being beyond filthy, washing yourself with puddle water when you have used up your drinking water. No one is there for you at 2 a.m.
The smallest acknowledgement allows you to continue on when you think you are through. Some people look at you, and they judge you, and they think that you are suffering in some way. Yet I will state it once more, there is no suffering, as I have a home.
The homeless, not all, but most, suffer. We have a wonderful island ohana that helps as best we can as individuals, as churches, and as nonprofits such as The Food Basket. But we require well-designed and located facilities with beds, toilets, showers, social services, etc. Hawaii County has one-third the number of shelter beds as Maui, and given the steadfast work being achieved on Oahu, we are reaching the sad reality of having just one-fourth the number of shelter beds as Oahu as a percentage of population.
But Hawaii Island does have the most bushes to hide the issue. And the elected and appointed officials say, “No need for shelters,” or better yet, the rallying cry, “Housing first,” which may work for Oahu given its manpower and state funding, and most importantly its inventory of buildings, but which on this island is to say give us a couple of decades.
Manpower? State funding? Inventory of available buildings?
To Gov. David Ige, Mayor William Kenoi, State Homeless Coordinator Scott Murashige et al, I say mahalo if only you would consider for a moment the unsheltered homeless on Hawaii Island. They are not some harbor improvement project that you can simply ignore for the next 20 or 30 years. We are talking about a humanitarian crisis and we need to build shelters first.