Letter: Allow homeless to camp on agricultural land

Thank you for your excellent but alarming front-page article on homeless deaths (“Their lives ended at an average age of 53 years, report says,” Star-Advertiser, June 6).

Clearly, something faster and cheaper needs to be done than standard “Housing First” — although, of course, that works for the lucky few.

Toward the end of the article, a homeless interviewee suggested that camping on private land, where the homeless could build something more like communities, would be a solution.

Camping is a permitted activity on agriculturally zoned land. For a small charge of $3-$5 per night, a 10-acre camp facility, for example, could provide central kitchen and bath facilities, be accessible for service providers, and be revenue-neutral.

Richard Stancliff

Makiki

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