Recovery bypasses isle poor
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / MARCH 29
The number of homeless people in Hawaii has climbed every year since 2011, despite a supposedly improving economy, statistics show.
DENNIS ODA / MARCH 10
John Rhee (attorney for Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing), left, Victor Geminiani (executive director of Hawaii Appleseed), Kazner Alexander (main plaintiff and resident of Mayor Wright Housing) and Gavin Thornton (Deputy director of Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice) discussed the settlement of a class action lawsuit about the living conditions at the Mayor Wright Homes public housing project.
It’s been years since the country recovered from the Great Recession spurred by the subprime mortgage crisis, but economic conditions for Hawaii’s low-income residents haven’t fully rebounded, according to a report by the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, a nonprofit law firm that advocates on behalf of the poor.
About 18 percent of residents are currently living in poverty, according to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, which takes into account Hawaii’s cost of living and available government assistance. Under this metric, Hawaii has the sixth-highest rate of poverty in the country.
And when it comes to Hawaii’s homeless — the numbers have continued to climb.
The number of homeless has increased in Hawaii every year since 2011. For the past three years, Hawaii has had the highest rate of homelessness in the country.
“The recovery did not touch everyone equally,” said Victor Geminiani, co-executive director of Hawaii Appleseed, in a news release. “People struggling before the recession were hit the hardest, and they still haven’t recovered.”
The report, released Tuesday, shows that raw figures — such as average wages and unemployment figures — mask the true economic conditions facing Hawaii residents.
Hawaii has the third-highest median income in the country, according to the report, but Hawaii residents earn the lowest wages when adjusted for the state’s cost of living.
An average worker in Honolulu’s private sector earns $25.10 per hour, but that equates to earning just $14.66 per hour in a state where the cost of living is the national average. By this metric, the wages for Honolulu private-sector workers are the second lowest in the country.
“While other cities such as New York and San Francisco also face sky-high prices, their wages are also significantly greater,” the report says.
Hawaii also has a low official unemployment rate that’s hovered at 3 percent. However, the report found that nearly 1 in 10 people who want to work full time are either unemployed, underemployed or haven’t looked for a job during the past month.
Termed the “real unemployment rate,” this figure stood at about 6 percent before the recession and now stands at about 10 percent.
The report doesn’t delve into the details about why conditions for low-income residents haven’t improved at pace with the economy. But Gavin Thornton, co-executive director of Hawaii Appleseed, said it appears that “wages aren’t really going up and the cost of living is.”
Thornton said that the high cost of living in Hawaii is, not surprisingly, tied to the state’s high housing costs, which consume too much of a low-income resident’s budget.
Policy experts consider housing “affordable” when a household spends no more than 30 percent of income on rent or a mortgage — but many Hawaii residents are spending much more than that.
For instance, about 1 in 3 households earning between 51 percent and 80 percent of the county area median income, $95,800 for Oahu and $68,200 for Hawaii island, are spending more than 50 percent of their income on housing. Another 37 percent of this income bracket is spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
“These are things that we have known for a long time,” said Thornton. “But one of the big take-home messages for us is the tax burden that is being placed on people.”
Hawaii Appleseed is pushing state lawmakers to support bills that would help redistribute income and ease the tax burden on low-income residents. This year, a bill that would create a state earned income tax credit was shelved by lawmakers. But another measure that would expand the low-income renters tax credit is still alive.
Lawmakers are also planning to pour millions into affordable housing and homeless programs.
“Despite more and more attention being devoted to (these issues), the fact that it continues to go up is very frightening,” Thornton said of the rise in homelessness and affordable housing needs.
He said one of the biggest tax issues facing low-income workers is the general excise tax, which disproportionately affects the poor and applies to nearly everything residents and visitors purchase, including retail items, such as gasoline and alcohol, hotel rooms and services.
Hawaii residents who comprise the bottom 20 percent of earners pay 11 percent of their income in excise taxes, according to the study. By comparison, the top 1 percent of earners pay abut 1.2 percent.
Tom Yamachika, president of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, said that it’s “indisputable” that low-income residents are paying a much greater percentage of their income in excise taxes than the wealthy.
He said that most states have a retail sales tax. But Hawaii’s GET taxes much more. “Ours is the broadest of all the states,” he said.
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A full copy of the report can be found here: hiappleseed.org/poverty-2016.
62 responses to “Recovery bypasses isle poor”
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Many people have no clue that Hawaii does not have a “sales” tax. We have something worse. Hawaii is the only State with an excise tax, which is much more regressive and hits the poor harder. But your lawmakers don’t care, they’re happy to hurt the poor harder so they can pay for rail.
Agreed, and even worse when they want to make the GE tax forever. And hire gasbags like ukuleleblue to post that people hardly feel the increase.
Indeed the GET is brutal.
Hence why Ted Cruz is a terrible candidate choice as he wants a European VAT which is like our GET but on steroids.
If you hate the GET, you should therefore can’t stand Ted Cruz due to his support for a VAT (among literally thousands of other reasons not to like him).
Why should shillary or Bernie be any better when they want taxpayers to pay for everyone’s college tuition?
Take a look at how European countries USE their VAT and the standards of living there. Our country is only for the rich, and worse, the rich who are not producing anything tangible, just “ideas” and tech…
Baloney. About 1/3 of the excise tax is exported to tourists. And when the state could afford it, refundable tax credits like the renters credit were well over $1000.
As the article points out, we should go back to that because of high housing costs. Raise renters credit to 2000, or about 200 a month.
Baloney
1/3 of the state’s GET revenue comes from tourists alone? Mind backing that up with data or are you just regurgitating nonsense as usual?
check out SA. A widely cited figure.
And paying for the lawmakers ever increasing salaries and benefits.
“An average worker in Honolulu’s private sector earns $25.10 per hour”.
Really? I didn’t know that. That’s a little over $200 a day, or $2008.00 per 10 day pay period. Or $4016.00 a month. Really?
Yeah, not sounding right to me either.
IIRC isn’t it something like $20. Where does the SA get these figures?
The SA must make up figures – JUST LIKE WILIKI does
When you include people on the corporate ladder making gazillion dollars a year, that would tend to tilt the numbers a bit.
Yeah those darn one-percenters always skewing the numbers.
That true for the “average”. But not true for “median”.
“For instance, about 1 in 3 households earning between 51 percent and 80 percent of the county area median income, $95,800 for Oahu and $68,200 for Hawaii island, are spending more than 50 percent of their income on housing. Another 37 percent of this income bracket is spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing.”
IIRC an average household is two adults and two children.
It’s called converting BENEFITS into hourly pay. Calculate perks, medical, retirement 401k, vacation, etc = estimated hourly Pesos! Bottom line here peeps….Edumacation = Scriptsss$$$$$$$$$$$
“Termed the “real unemployment rate,” this figure stood at about 6 percent before the recession and now stands at about 10 percent.”
That seems more realistic, unlike the smoke and mirrors figures the state and fed pull out of their buts. It’s probably worse on the national level.
True, the monthly reported numbers do not reflect those who have simply given up looking for work.
…economic conditions for Hawaii’s low-income residents haven’t fully rebounded…
News flash, the main beneficiaries of the easy monetary policies of the past 8 years have been the wealthy. Low interest rates have re-inflated the housing and stock market bubbles, with money stolen from the middle class who earn nothing on their savings accounts.
Housing shortages create poverty. Wake up legislators.
Yes, everyone, the rich, poor, and in between are paying a disproportionate amount of their income on housing costs. This is why everyone here is struggling to make ends meet. More reason to build more affordable housing, around the rail stations and the rail guideway.
No, I disagree. We’re about average. But there are pockets of high employment in the mainland. Hawaii’s own employment rate is probably also up.
This is the result of Hawaii voters voting for a corrupt “One Party Rule” concept that enriches party cronies over the population. Most Hawaii voters have been “Grubered” for so long, and are unwilling to do the research to find out why they vote the way they do. As long as they have theirs, that’s all that matters, meanwhile, corrupt Democrats have local businesses paying to play.
Nope, Workers in Hawaii have benefitted from unions and the Democratic Party. Life was very difficult under Republicans. They looked at the non-rich as cooli help. No more.
Take off those Rose colored glasses and look with more depth at Unions and just how long ago Was Hawaii Under Republicans???? Hmmm
Baloney. The state is in the bad shape it is because there are too many liberal dummycrats running it. In a year with a good economy and strong tourism, the governor still want to steal money from taxpayers by raising the gas tax and vehicle weight tax.
Spoken like a true union drone.
sorry you don’t like the truth.
Lay off the kool-aid wiliki.
If our political leaders were really concerned about the poor and the middle-class, the State’s GET would not apply to basic necessities. One example would be food.
However, this will never happen because government would have less to spend in controlling our daily lives.
What disturbs me is that some children of homeless when asked what do you plan to do/be when you grow up? The answer is “I collect”. This means that some children are being raise with no work ethic … only how to work the system. Homelessness and poverty are becoming inter-generational and for some a tribe unto its self. The “haves” would do well to take note of this trending and support some constructive action.
This is a fantasy. Kids do not think very much about the future . They’ll tell you what you want to hear. Because they haven’t even thought about it.
What you say is fantasy. Talk to any social worker and they’ll tell you the same thing as leino. Welfare is no longer a form of public aid – it’s a lifestyle.
I agree with that. It’s becoming a lifestyle.
The thing about “I collect” is the same mentality of our politicians.
Welfare only lasts 5 years. Some “life”style.
That’s why they keep having babies.
“He said that most states have a retail sales tax. But Hawaii’s GET taxes much more. “Ours is the broadest of all the states,” he said.”>>> Then fix THAT – Stop inventing tax break work-arounds that avoid THE issue.
“The report doesn’t delve into the details about why conditions for low-income residents haven’t improved at pace with the economy. “>>> Let me help you out with that.
The soil for recovery was spoiled long ago. Low income residents here have low income due to their jobs being low paying/low skill PART TIME jobs. The stage of mass of part time jobs here, was created by legislators “helping” employees who had full time jobs, when legislators mandated employers pay for health insurance for FULL time employees. Employers then shifted gears into a part time job mode. The kind of jobs you can train an endless line of people to do. Now, when an employee gets a $1 per hour raise, they don’t get it for a 40 hour a week job worked. They get it for 20 hours. HALF the impact it should have – thanks to legislators. Other full time employees are earning $3-$4 less per hour than their mainland counterparts as employers are offsetting their total overhead, with insurance, when factoring out pay. Again, thanks to legislators.
No. The law is good. What legislators need to do is boost the economy. Get the economy to create more jobs.
Legislators do not Boost the Economy, Small Business does, But the legislators hinder them!
Now’s a good time for infrastructure. Interest is low. It’s up to the legislators as to what they want to do.
And how do you propose creating more jobs? Where’s the 10,000 rails jobs? It doesn’t exist because it was sold on lies.
Ah, yes. The progressive fairy dust/unicorn flatulence approach to economics—“legislators…. get the economy to create more jobs…”.
These people need more INCENTIVE to improve their situation not supplied with more COMFORT as rewards for making bad decisions. Having kids they can’t afford – with someone they aren’t married to. Maybe because they’ve only known them since Saturday before getting pregnant cause they’re not bright enough to take the free birth control that’s available.
Raise tax credits for the poor.
And who will pay for these credits? The poor don’t pay much taxes but now you also want to give them money
The alternative is to build more affordable housing.
You mean give them more handouts.
Why the surprise? High school graduation rate is about 80%, less for minorities. Given the nature of our economy, these folks can’t compete and are doomed (other than a few exceptional people) to poverty. Could we do better? Only if we break the failed public school model.
There is a similar problem with our so called “higher education”. There was a time when our industrial economy would absorb liberal arts majors. No more, especially since the collapse of university education into political indoctrination camps other than the sciences. Now, the main product of our “universities” is social justice fry cooks.
I never understood what a Liberal Arts major was qualified to do in the work force. And the world needs fry cooks too.
Right, but the world needs “good” fry cooks. Most humanities majors fall short in that regard. Liberal arts may have made some sense back in time, but not now.
You are not telling me anything I already haven’t been Feeling! after Rent and Tax not much of anything left.
Everyone talks but no action…This state and its representatives are ripping people blind, waste of taxes, junk services, low IQ having citizens, leaders who are making their pockets full while the Poor and the Middle class does the most and reaps almost nothing…. 25 years from now, only the RICH AND THE SHAMELESS IS ONLY GOING TO BE LIVING IN THIS ISLAND. THE POOR….they will be working in slave condition. “nobody seems to notice..nobody seems to care….”
The islands and especially Oahu are good hunting grounds for politician clowns. Lots of low educated voters.
Lots of barely educated non-voters and voters, and lots of homeless without any education.
So………the 53% who are working hard to support the other 47%…….please keep at it and work even harder…..bear down and lean in.
to the Poor, lower your expectations but don’t give up hope…..get spiritual advise from your priest, pastor or rabbi.
Turn off the TV, cut back on the non-essentials and those vices (booze, drugs, tobacco) that shrink your wallet/purse.
Less about you/me and more about giving service to others.
Think like a Democrat and expect Government to hand it to you….think like a Republican and you end up having to do it yourself.
Do stuff today to make your mom proud…………..I’ll light a candle for you at Church today and pickup two pieces of litter in your behalf.
And stop popping out kids like pez dispensers!
A general sales tax would be better than an excise tax. BUT it would affect big spenders. Hawaii does not want to do that.
Average works make over $25 per hour. Really?? Just how is this average computed. The so called average worker does not make anything close to that.
Many are only a few paychecks from being homeless given the very high rents that people pay here. And the real unemployment rate of 10% is more close to the truth than
what the government claims, although I suspect that it actually higher and closer to 14%.
As far as the so called recovery, it never reached many even those in the so called middle class. The so called economic recovery is mostly bull and is just a falsehood promoted
by the ruling political class.
My income is only twice the poverty rate but the feds keep taking more and more, especially since they made Social Security payments taxable. Talk about greed!
This Appleseed center derives their business from “poor people” and creates numbers that make it appear that many people in Hawaii are poor.
If a household is earning $94,000 a year and can only live a modest life, they are not smart in managing their money. That breakdown above of expenses is ridiculous.