City sweep clears out last of homeless from Kakaako
University of Hawaii medical student Liz Young, middle in white shirt, helped homeless people push some of their belongings out of Kakaako on Tuesday.
This is the final sweep of the homeless Kakaako encampment on Ohe Street. Before the city crews arrived, a few of the homeless residents that were left, packed up their possessions and moved out.
This is Meshai Ahu (she gave that name, but it may not be her real name) pushing her cart filled with what ever her belongings she could salvage from her make shift shelter on Ohe Street.
This is the final sweep of the homeless Kakaako encampment on Ohe Street. There are a lot of make shift structures to tear down and so much debris to clear, that I think they will not finish today, but will have to come back tomorrow.
This is the final sweep of the homeless Kakaako encampment on Ohe Street. Before the city crews arrived, a few of the homeless residents that were left, packed up their possessions and moved out. Everyone that I talked to did not know where they were going. This is the city work crew taking inventory of what they still have to clear. They are on the corner of Ohe and Ilalo Streets.
This is the final sweep of the homeless Kakaako encampment on Ohe Street. Before the city crews arrived, a few of the homeless residents that were left, packed up their possessions and moved out.
City crews completing a block-by-block sweep in Kakaako cleared the remaining two dozen homeless people from Ohe Street on Tuesday morning.
Ross Sasamura, director of the city Department of Facility Maintenance, said he expected it would take two days to finish cleaning up Ohe Street because of “the sheer volume of trash.” He pointed out that Ohe Street had “the highest concentration” of people living on the sidewalks in Kakaako.
Six facility maintenance workers moved into Ohe Street at 7:30 a.m. with two garbage trucks and one flatbed truck to remove trash and recycle metals.
Honolulu police officers used red tape to close short portions of the street as the city crews worked the area. Also assisting in the effort were deputy sheriffs.
Several women in the area who declined to give their names said they didn’t know where they would be going after the Tuesday sweep.
Since the cleanup began in mid-September, crews have gone block by block through the area near the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center and the University of Hawaii medical school. Sasamura said the city has collected 52 tons of trash, 104 cubic yards of metal and 129 hypodermic needles.
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The operation was postponed from Monday until Tuesday because several homeless providers were closed for the Columbus Day holiday, and they would not have been available to help those being moved.
Between 15 and 25 people were living on Kakaako sidewalks Monday afternoon. At one time in August there were 293 individuals living in the encampment.
Since August, 158 people have moved into permanent housing or shelter, according to state officials.
Crews have been clearing areas under the city’s stored property ordinance and sidewalk nuisance law, which allows for the removal of homeless campers from city sidewalks.
A federal court hearing is scheduled on an American Civil Liberties Union class-action lawsuit that claims city crews were improperly confiscating property and destroying it instead of storing it.
Sasamura said the city’s stored property/sidewalk nuisance enforcement crew will continue to enforce the ordinances at other locations across Oahu where they receive complaints.
