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The last vestiges of the Kakaako homeless encampment are expected to be removed from Ohe Street beginning at 7:30 a.m. today — a day later than had been anticipated.
Between 15 and 25 people remained on the sidewalks late Monday afternoon. A “point in time” count by social service advocates on Aug. 3 determined there were 293 individuals living in the encampment, including 124 who lived among 31 families.
Since mid-September, city crews have been going block-by-block through Kakaako to enforce the city’s stored property ordinance and sidewalk nuisance law, which allows for the removal the homeless from their camps.
The city had originally expected Friday’s cleanup along Ilalo, Ahui, Olomehani and Ohe streets to be the last, but the unexpected amount of trash and debris left behind — from tarps to buckets of feces — prompted it to announce that it would wrap up the cleanup on Monday instead.
However, action was postponed yet another day, until today, after city officials learned several homeless providers were closed for the Columbus Day holiday and there would not have been enough providers to help those being moved.
City attorneys have said sidewalk enforcement laws withstand legal challenges best when there is available shelter space for those being displaced.
On Thursday and Friday, city crews removed 26.8 tons of trash, 52 cubic yards of metal and nine shopping carts. Eight bins of personal property were confiscated and stored, and six summary removal notices were issued.
The state’s homeless services coordinator, Scott Morishige, said 158 people, including 25 families, have been placed in permanent housing or in temporary shelters since Aug. 7.
The American Civil Liberties Union Hawaii Chapter last month filed a class-action lawsuit against the city, arguing, among other things, that city crews were improperly confiscating property and destroying it instead of storing it away.
A federal judge denied a temporary restraining order that would have stopped the sweeps, but a trial on the issue has been scheduled.
