A dozen candidates for Honolulu mayor presented a wide variety of approaches to the vexing issue of homelessness on the island during an early morning forum Tuesday. They spoke of everything from creating more jobs and increasing the housing inventory to enlisting vacant military lands to house veterans in need of shelter.
The forum was sponsored by the Sales and Marketing Executives of Honolulu, KHVH 830AM Radio, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and KHON. The two-hour event was moderated by Rick Hamada of KHVH and livestreamed from the Hawaiian Financial Music Hall at the Dole Cannery in Iwilei.
Honolulu businessman Keith Amemiya said his “Housing for All” initiative would ensure new housing is aimed at local residents, not investors from out of town. Additionally, he’d put emphasis on squelching activities such as illegal vacation rentals that “depress the housing inventory,” and he’d spur housing by expanding the city’s infrastructure, including sewer and water capacity, he said.
>> PHOTOS: 12 Honolulu mayoral candidates face off in candidate forum
“We also need to provide more mental health treatment services and substance abuse treatment services,” Amemiya said. “Those services have been severely cut in our city, and we need to restore them to get the people on the streets who need the help, the help they need.”
Councilwoman Kym Pine, who once worked for U.S. Vets, the Kalaeloa homeless shelter geared toward military veterans, said expanding the number of affordable units on the island is key to reducing homelessness. She said she helped shepherd bills that produced thousands of affordable-housing units when she was chairwoman of the Council Zoning and Housing Committee.
Pine said she also authored the bill that requires the Department of Planning and Permitting to act on affordable-housing applications within 60 days of being submitted. “And we also have a plan for 4,000 more affordable units that are going to be built with 19 developers that are already starting out without using any taxpayer money at all,” she said.
Former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann said restoring jobs and jump-starting the economy are critical to stemming a bump in homelessness due to the economic downturn, and he touted his experience both as the onetime officeholder and current chief executive officer and president of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association as necessary to accomplish that.
Hannemann said he has experience partnering with the private sector and state government to match funds to support programs for the homeless. He also pointed to the city’s 20-mile rail line now under construction as a key tool to bringing affordable housing through Transit Oriented Development initiatives.
“If we get the rail project going the right way, that’s exactly what’s going to be built on that corridor going from Middle Street to downtown-Chinatown,” he said.
Honolulu businessman Rick Blangiardi said exploring homelessness was a focus of Hawaii News Now when he was general manager of the television stations. Blangiardi said he wants to focus on reducing the number of chronically homeless on the island.
“I’m in support of sit-lie bans, but the biggest issue is we have had no place to put them,” Blangiardi said. “These are people who are not capable either mentally or otherwise of taking care of themselves. They’re not even the subject of affordable rental units. And so if you look at the numbers involved, it’s a scalable problem. But we have commit to it, make it a priority in our budget, and that’s what I intend to do.”
Former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa said her experience with both the federal and state governments would make it easier for her to collaborate and create synergies with all levels of government.
“We need to begin to look at the laws, and we need a mayor who can work with all levels of government because it’s going to take everyone to be together to address this, not everyone in their little silos thinking that they can address this problem,” Hanabusa said. “You need people to be collaborative, understanding it and working together so you’re not duplicating efforts.”
Hanabusa questioned why both the state and the city have their own designated coordinators to deal with homelessness.
Audrey Keesing, a stand-up comedian, said she wants to create a new city health department that would send out staff and public health workers to identify the issues facing those without shelter and help provide for their specific needs.
Former state Sen. John Carroll said he wants to negotiate with military leaders to use vacant housing units at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and other installations to place homeless veterans.
Former state Rep. William “Bud” Stonebraker said the city has been wrong to put up homeless facilities in only certain areas of the island and then expect those who need those services to go there.
“People don’t want to leave their neighborhoods,” he said, adding that he would look to more public-private partnerships.
Downtown-Chinatown resident Ernest Caravalho said those who are homeless due to economic issues should be retrained with new occupational skills and be given Housing First opportunities. Those with substance abuse or mental health issues need different programs to tackle their needs, Caravalho said.
Karl Dicks, a metal fabricator and onetime emergency medical technician, criticized the current city administration for not having the courage to enforce current laws more aggressively.
“If we start enforcing the law, it’s going to put people in a place where they’re uncomfortable and they have to make decisions,” Dicks said.
Jason Wong, chief governance and information officer for an internet firm, said he favors creating opportunities for job training.
“Once a job placement is secure, the individual will be paying back the temporary housing (and) training expense to the city in installments,” Wong said of his plan “that should be self-sustainable financially.”
Businesswoman and community activist Choon James said she would crack down on unscrupulous builders and ensure that only those most in need of affordable housing get such units.
Twelve of the 15 Oahu residents who filed to run in this year’s mayor’s race participated in the forum. The other three candidates are David (Duke) Burgoin, Tim Garry and Micah Laakea Mussell.
All city races are nonpartisan. The two top finishers in the Aug. 8 primary election will go head-to-head in the Nov. 3 general election unless the top vote-getter receives 50% of the ballots cast plus one. In that case the candidate wins outright.
