A feeling of hopelessness surrounds homelessness

In seven paragraphs, a snowbird couple from a Pacific Northwest state touch lightly and politely on some of the troublesome situations that afflict Oahu.

Though the concerns they described in a recent letter to the editor focus on Waikiki, the problems flicker across the island.

They have been wintering in the tourist mecca for 13 years, they wrote, counting among the millions of vacationers from around the globe who bring hard cash to support services and functions of government and businesses here.

The couple say they are pleased that Waikiki’s sidewalks have been fixed, that more sand now carpets the shoreline and that “Aloha Ambassadors” help tourists find their way around.

Then they move to matters that frustrate residents as well. Changes in bus routes and less frequent runs that have resulted in uncomfortably jammed vehicles are a sore point for them during their visits.

For local people who depend on the service to get to work and around town to buy groceries, to see their doctors and their families, TheBus hassles drive through winter, spring, summer and fall. But when tourists speak, ears at City Hall might perk up faster, and if improvements come, everyone benefits; all’s good.

The letter brings up rail, but not in the for-or-against context. The couple argues that “if the city can pay billions of dollars for rail transit,” surely it has “enough money to take care” problems with TheBus.

While they may not be acquainted with the entangled systems that separate bus from rail, their point is one residents make continually to no avail.

The letter moves on to discuss the overwhelming problem of homelessness, but from a visitor’s point of view. Tourism and hotel industry leaders would agree with the couple that the sight of portable toilets and indigent people gathered or sleeping on Waikiki’s main drag spoils the paradise vacation experience. The letter suggests that police walk down Kalakaua every night, roust homeless people “and have them go elsewhere.”

“Elsewhere” is the problem. Scattered shelters, sparse aid and services and an inability to aggressively tackle homelessness with all of its wide-ranging causes and facets eliminate elsewheres.

Not that there aren’t fine attempts, but half measures — like purging tents and sofas from Thomas Square sidewalks, cutting off the poor from legally camping in city parks with an online permit system and fees, shuttering restrooms at park and harbor facilities and shortchanging programs that have potential to help mentally ill street people —work to the negative.

The few successful efforts, such as the Waikiki Health Center’s program to identify and find lodging for Oahu’s most chronic homeless people and the center’s health clinics and other outreach services, show potential.

Even the state’s appointment of a coordinator on homelessness is a good step, acknowledging that the threads of homelessness need a weaver to form solutions.

What may be hampering larger success is a mindset that homelessness cannot be solved. For sure, there will always be people who live out of the mainstream and who have difficulties that keep them at the edges, which is acceptable in small numbers. 

Identifying needs, such as living wages, cheaper rentals, employment training and effective education, and adequate funding for programs and aid would point to improvements, but most important is finding the will to stem homelessness.

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Cynthia Oi can be reached at coi@staradvertiser.com.