A year after the state declined to start up a pilot program to send the homeless back to the mainland, the business community in Waikiki might step up and fill the void.
Rick Egged, president of the Waikiki Improvement Association, said his organization will be looking to establish some sort of airfare fund in response to a plea from providers of homeless services.
"We’re going to try to find out the best way to go about that," he said. "I think that’s a very reasonable request."
The pledge followed a recent association meeting in which agency representatives said they’ve seen an increase in the number of homeless from the mainland — many of them with mental illness and other problems — who could use a one-way trip home.
If established, such a fund might be similar to the three-year Return to Home pilot program approved by the state Legislature but rejected by the state Department of Human Services for fear it would be abused by those who would view it as an invitation to purchase a one-way ticket to Hawaii with a guaranteed return flight home.
But Connie Mitchell, executive director of the Institute for Human Services, said she would insist prospective recipients be fully screened for need and be required to contribute a partial payment.
"We wouldn’t just be handing out tickets," she said.
Mitchell said her organization is already helping at least six people a month obtain airfare so they can reconnect with their families and other mainland support systems — and there’s a need for much more.
Pat Lafleur, a social worker for the Queen’s Medical Center Emergency Department, agreed.
She recounted a recent case in which a 30-year-old Oregon woman arrived on Oahu with her boyfriend who promised her a great life, only to force her into prostitution. He beat her up and kept her addicted to methamphetamines to keep her in line.
The woman came to the ER in bad shape as many as 25 times, Lafleur said, before Queen’s was able to reach her brother-in-law and get him to buy her a ticket home.
"If she stays here she will be killed," she said. "She will be killed on the streets of Waikiki."
Oahu has experienced a surge in its homeless population — up 32 percent over the past five years.
Some homeless advocates contend a substantial percentage of that increase is due to recent arrivals from the mainland, lured not only by warm weather and beaches, but by easy access to general assistance and universal health coverage.
In fact, Mitchell said the IHS has received dozens of phone calls in recent months from those on the mainland asking whether they can stay at the agency’s homeless shelter.
"We try to discourage them from coming here," she said. "We tell them housing costs are the highest in the nation, that the wages are not, that it’s challenging to make it here, that it’s going to be very, very difficult for them."
Mitchell said the migration is fueled partly by Internet articles that describe how easy it is to live in Hawaii, and some people are using that information to plot their relocation and take advantage of the system here.
Rather than finding paradise, however, they encounter a high cost of living, no family nearby to help them through tough times and increasingly strict laws against homelessness, she said.
Lafleur said she’s seeing an increasing number of patients in the Queen’s emergency room who are recent arrivals from the mainland without any plans to make ends meet when they come to Hawaii. They arrive at the hospital requesting services, many of them saying they’re depressed or suicidal and have no money or social support, she said.
Lafleur said many of them suffer from the dual affliction of mental illness and addiction, and they sometimes act to move here impulsively.
"Some of them tell me, ‘I’ve made a mistake coming here. I can’t get my medication. I don’t know anyone here,’" she said.
Added Joy Rucker of Waikiki Health, "Who in their right mind would come from (the mainland) with no money and no resources? That tells you there that they have a mental health issue. We are dealing with people who have a different view of reality."
Regarding the proposed airfare fund, Mitchell said, "It’s not about sending our homeless (away), but helping people return home. Sometimes it’s just a matter of someone making a bad decision."
State Rep. John Mizuno (D, Kamehameha Heights-Kalihi Valley) said he is gratified to hear about the effort to revive the concept. While the effort is not the only solution to the homelessness problem, he said, it can save money in the long run, freeing up resources to better serve the population.
Mizuno, the legislator who originally proposed the Return to Home program, said that when he and state Reps. Rida Cabanilla and Tom Brower took it upon themselves to help send more than 20 homeless folks to the mainland in recent years, they saved the state an estimated $1 million or more and maybe saved some lives in the process.
"We are not part of the contiguous U.S.A. You can’t just pay $30 for a Greyhound bus ticket home," he said, adding that some people simply need a helping hand.
