A preliminary search for state-controlled land parcels on Oahu where possible “safe zones” could be established for homeless encampments turned up no vacant sites.
The search was a second attempt by a legislative working group to identify potential areas that could be designated as government-sanctioned safe zones, where homeless people could legally camp or dwell temporarily on public land before transitioning to permanent housing.
The effort aims to provide an alternative for the island’s nearly 5,000 homeless people — the highest per capita homeless rate in the nation — as the city and state step up enforcement efforts with sweeps of encampments on public sidewalks, in parks and along freeway corridors. Officials have said that even if every one of the state’s 7,200 homeless individuals agreed to move into a shelter, there is not enough space to accommodate them.
Act 212, which became law over the summer without Gov. David Ige’s signature, directed the state Hawaii Interagency Council on Homelessness to form a working group to revisit the idea of safe zones, sometimes referred to as tent cities, and produce a list of potential sites within Honolulu’s
urban core.
The working group earlier this month ruled out three initial sites in
Kakaako, Kalihi and near the Nimitz Highway viaduct due to various issues and asked the Department of Land and Natural
Resources, which manages state-owned lands, to expand the search for vacant parcels islandwide beyond the urban core.
Pua Aiu, special assistant to DLNR’s chairman and an adviser to the working group, said that most of the state-controlled sites that appear to be vacant on Oahu are either in use as state parks, set aside by executive order for other government uses such as schools or easements, or being used as conservation zones.
“So right now DLNR doesn’t have anything available,” Aiu told the working group. “On our database they may look like they’re vacant, but they’re not.”
Aiu said she’s asked the department’s land division to look more closely at sites that appear vacant and to report back on the status of any active leases.
Scott Morishige, the governor’s coordinator on homelessness who is a member of the working group, acknowledged finding open land space is proving challenging.
“One of the things to take into consideration is, although there is a desire by the Legislature for us to look into this issue of safe zones, and for us to site these safe zones on public land, we’re very limited in what the state has in terms of public land that is not already set aside for another purpose,” he said.
The safe zone concept is controversial. Supporters say legal tent cities are a compassionate option for homeless people to temporarily live with fewer restrictions while still accessing social services and basic necessities like restrooms. They exist in Washington state, Oregon, New Mexico and other areas.
Hawaii currently has one safe zone — Camp
Kikaha in Kona. The county-run encampment was set up after officials cleared the Old Kona Airport beach park of
70 homeless people earlier this year.
Those opposed to the idea, meanwhile, argue that safe zones aren’t cost-effective and divert resources from service providers. The practice is discouraged by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homeless, and a previous working group of the state interagency council recommended against designating “safe facilities” in a 2012 report.
State Rep. Tom Brower, chairman of the House Committee on Housing, said he’s been advocating for safe zones since 2010. Brower helped draw awareness to the homeless crisis two years ago after he was attacked at a Kakaako homeless encampment.
“The reality is we will never be able to build enough shelters to house the state’s 7,000-plus homeless and it is inhumane to keep shuffling them around. ‘No loitering’ laws only work when people have a place to go,” Brower (D, Waikiki-Ala Moana-Kakaako) said in an emailed statement. “On the flip side, government needs to remove the homeless from areas of aesthetic, cultural and economic importance for the enjoyment of residents and visitors.”
He added, “We can either designate areas where the homeless can be, or do nothing and let them continue to be everywhere.”
