Few head to shelters as city starts sweep in heart of Kakaako homeless camp
A special crew from the city's Department of Facility Maintenance worked to clear discarded debris and wooden structures from the Kakaako homeless encampment today.
The city began clearing out the last and most-densely populated portion of the Kakaako homeless encampment this morning and expects to spend all of today and Friday picking up tons of discarded debris and wooden structures.
Escorted by a contingent of plainclothes Honolulu police officers and state sheriff’s deputies, the special crew from the city’s Department of Facility Maintenance methodically worked its way Diamond Head on Ilalo Street and planned to spend the rest of the day moving clockwise down Ahui Street and onto Olomehani Street toward Ohe Street, where state Rep. Tom Brower (D, Waikiki-Ala Moana-Kakaako) was attacked while photographing the encampment June 29.
On Friday, the crew plans to work its way mauka up Ohe Street and finish back up on Ilalo Street.
The city brought in a bus this morning to transport displaced homeless people to various island shelters, but it left with only a few passengers.
Several homeless people headed over to the adjacent Next Step shelter in Kakaako.
But many more said they had no intention of moving into a shelter and instead would spend today looking for a new place to sleep.
"I’m going to hit the streets," said Skinny Moore, 60. "I’ve got just a tent, a blanket and a change of clothes."
