The routine sweeps of homeless encampments seem necessary as a stop-gap measure — especially when they are located in areas where continued wear-and-tear on infrastructure can pose a serious public risk. Moving roughly 180 people from beneath the H-1 airport viaduct, a state operation set to begin next week, is one such example.

The question is, how long can the homelessness response continue with stop-gap measures?

This is why the drumbeat for creation of a “safe zone” encampment is growing louder. This itself is another stop-gap measure, but at least fewer expensive repairs would be needed.

All this is costing a lot of money — both the labor involved in getting the campers to move and the repairs that must be made, again and again. Homelessness in itself shouldn’t be criminalized, it’s true, but law-abiding taxpayers are right to expect that squatters capable of self-responsibility shouldn’t be allowed to refuse repeated attempts to help them off the streets.

The upcoming cleanup, in an area between Moanalua Stream and the viaduct offramp at Kamehame- ha and Nimitz highways, is paid for with a $2 million legislative allotment, and the same amount in Department of Transportation funds.

The agency is rightly concerned about letting this situation drag on. There have been incremental improvements, to be sure — since July, 62 people have been relocated to supportive housing, according to state officials — but not enough to avert a mounting threat to health and safety.

DOT last week won Board of Land and Natural Resources clearance to close part of Moanalua Stream, to better enable an effective sweep. Rains had washed debris and campsite trash into Moanalua and Kalihi streams, driving up bacterial counts in the water.

In addition, Moanalua Stream can be used as a route back into the viaduct camp, so restricting access makes perfect sense. To keep it clear, the state DOT has decided to use the cleared zone beneath the viaduct for storage by contractors building the city’s rail line. It will be fenced off and protected using a 24-hour security system.

It’s also prudent to clear the area to ensure better security for the future residents of Kahauiki Village, which will provide more permanent shelter for about 200 households. The project is the brainchild of businessman Duane Kurisu, who wanted to help ease homelessness by creating a community modeled after the traditional plantation villages of old Hawaii.

Kurisu (who sits on the board of Oahu Publications Inc., the parent company of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser) is repurposing modular structures his nonprofit aio Foundation acquired to house tsunami survivors in Japan six years ago.

Things are already started to take shape, with the shipment of modular units arriving earlier this month, and volunteers assembling a number of them. They will be placed on 13.1 acres of state land, just makai of the H-1 viaduct.

This initiative also involves Vicky Cayetano, the former first lady and owner of United Laundry Services nearby. Cayetano has pledged to provide jobs for some of the new residents of the village.

This is an admirable cooperative effort by government landowners with private partners who brought no small degree of creative thinking to the equation. Residents have to hope that the idea succeeds and can be a model for other solutions.

Meanwhile, the state and city governments also need to accelerate plans for a short-term strategy to steer people away from hiding places that can be damaged. In January, homeless individuals were caught cutting wires to gain copper for resale, knocking out cable service to 500 customers.

Elsewhere, fires have burned out of control. In April, a blaze sparked by residents of a homeless camp in Atlanta brought down an elevated section of freeway.

Leaders must find lasting solutions to such problems, which, if allowed to stagnate, could cost lives. A “stop-gap” is only worth the money being spent on it as long as progress is being made toward something more permanent.