Homeless issue demands action, not politicking

The government’s impotent response to homelessness on Oahu is obvious in the seemingly permanent shantytowns allowed to flourish in urban Honolulu and in the distressingly inchoate strategies devised to address this growing humanitarian crisis.

Typical political reactions should not be in play when we are talking about hundreds and hundreds of people literally living on the streets. Yet Oahu taxpayers continue to be subjected to petty politics, especially at the municipal level.

The Honolulu City Council Budget Committee rejected Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s reasonable request to fund staffing for the fledgling Office of Strategic Development, tasked with fast-tracking development of affordable housing and units for the Housing First program, which shelters the chronically homeless. 

The committee refused to restore $616,000 in funding for those seven contractual-hire positions in the $2.3 billion operating budget, but allocated $130,000 from its own Council budget to hire two homeless-housing experts to directly advise Council members.  

The last thing this island needs is a turf war between the City Council and the mayor’s office over who gets to “solve” the homeless crisis. It is going to take all hands on deck — at the state and federal levels, too — working together toward lasting solutions. 

A cohesive, long-term strategy is essential. Whether our elected officials have the ability to marshal the community in this way is a true test of leadership. 

If Council Chairman Ernie Martin, who pushed for the two Council-affiliated housing coordinator positions and is expected to run for mayor in 2016, aspires to be such a leader, and to be seen as one, he should acknowledge that the mayor’s funding request was reasonable and persuade fellow Council members to restore the money. The Council can do so via a floor amendment on June 3, the day the final vote on the budget is scheduled. 

Will these staffers end homelessness overnight? No, of course not. But they are needed to develop and procure housing units the Council expects to materialize from $32 million it appropriated in the current year’s budget for that purpose.  

Elected officials must not treat homelessness as just another political issue, ripe for scheming and one-upping in the interest of winning political points, or future votes or campaign donations. 

On the contrary, the hardening of homeless encampments along Kapalama Canal in Kalihi and near Kakaako Waterfront Park, where hundreds of individuals and families are living in setups that are obviously neither short-term nor temporary, indicate that social-service advocates’ worst fears are coming true: Homelessness is being normalized as a way of life on Oahu, acceptable as an alternative for the poor that no civilized society should tolerate. 

While some opposed the city’s plan to build a safe zone for the homeless on Sand Island, a proposal never implemented, what we’ve ended up with is even worse: dense urban encampments that lack the bathrooms, shower facilities, security and other services that an official site could have provided. The current living conditions are miserable, the public health risks clear.

The city should revisit the Sand Island plan to get a handle on a worsening situation; the vacant site was recently deemed safe for habitation.

Further, officials should encourage affordable modular housing, commonly known as mobile homes. 

It’s past time to add such dwellings to Oahu’s housing stock. 

What’s also needed, besides more cooperation between the City Council and mayor’s office, is a full-on summit of federal, state and city elected officials to agree on sustained action plans to help more homeless people find housing and jobs and to make sure that their children are in school. Many people, in the public and private sectors, are working hard to achieve this. Yet Oahu’s homeless population continues to grow, to 4,903 in January, including 1,939 people living on the streets, according to an annual census. 

What’s been lacking all along is a ongoing, united response from the highest levels of elected leadership. Not acting as rivals, but as partners with the best interests of all Oahu residents in mind.