Mayor Blangiardi responds to lawsuit over homeless sweeps

Mayor Rick Blangiardi is fighting back against litigation condemning the city’s use of homeless sweeps in Honolulu.

The Blangiardi administration responded last week — both in written and video formats — to the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii’s lawsuit filed July 26 in 1st Circuit Court and a related filing seeking a preliminary injunction against the city’s homeless enforcement efforts.

The Aug. 18 motion for the injunction argues the city’s actions constitute cruel or unusual punishment under the Hawaii Constitution and should therefore cease immediately via court order.

But in a 155-page memorandum opposing the injunction, the city’s Corporation Counsel contends the organization mischaracterized the city’s enforcement actions, including those by the Honolulu Police Department. The memorandum filed Tuesday cites instances when members of the public — from keiki to kupuna, families to church groups, small to large businesses, and others — were adversely affected by the actions of homeless people living in city-owned parks, playgrounds or sidewalks and who engage in criminal activities including drugs and violence or leave garbage and human waste behind.

“The city combats the homeless crisis through a comprehensive and compassionate strategy that is distinct from its enforcement of the public welfare laws. This strategy involves strengthening the homeless crisis response system, integrating healthcare, building career pathways to exit homelessness, providing housing, and engaging in homeless prevention and diversion,” the city’s legal response states.

“The city’s enforcement of the public welfare laws, which plaintiffs misleading refer to as ‘sweeps,’ is not a part of the city’s strategy to eradicate homelessness. Enforcement actions are conducted by the city’s Department of Facility Maintenance to clear and clean areas … in coordination with HPD, which ensures order and safety of everyone present,” the memorandum says. “Where and when enforcement actions occur are driven primarily by community complaints, adjusted for considerations such as staffing and the weather.”

As a defendant in the ACLU case, the city has amassed over 30 witnesses who submitted written declarations on the city’s behalf. Witnesses include members of the community as well as city officials — in particular, Anton Krucky, director of the Department of Community Services, and Laura Thielen, director of the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Meantime, in a rare public commentary involving any pending litigation against the city, Honolulu’s top elected official weighed in on the ACLU lawsuit.

Blangiardi noted in his written response and in a 2-minute, 9-second video that “homelessness is a complex and pressing issue” that affects families as well as the whole community.

“I want to start by emphasizing our commitment to addressing homelessness and finding long-term solutions,” he said. “This is not just a legal or political issue, it is a humanitarian crisis that affects everyone.”

Blangiardi asserted that the ACLU lawsuit seeks to stop the city from enforcing “our public welfare laws,” including camping and park closure laws, so-called sit-lie laws, the stored property ordinance, various sidewalk obstruction laws and the city’s lodging ordinance which prohibits people from sleeping or resting on a public sidewalk or public space and who also refuse to vacate those public spaces upon request.

“The city disagrees with the ACLU on these issues, and we will vigorously oppose their lawsuit,” the mayor stated. “We need to defend the city’s ability to enforce laws that ensure access and use of city property for all residents of the city. We understand that homelessness is not a crime, and we must treat those experiencing homeless with respect and empathy.

“Consequently, we are also exploring alternative solutions to homelessness, such as increasing housing inventory and expanding support services. But at the same time, we cannot ignore the tremendous and ongoing burden being borne by communities who are dealing with those who refuse the help they are offered by both the city and our partners.”

Blangiardi added that the city “strongly disagreed with the ACLU’s contention that the rights of the public to use and enjoy public spaces is subordinate to the rights of the homeless.” He said the “public welfare laws that the ACLU seeks to enjoin the city from enforcing enable the city to protect all interests, and we must continue to serve and protect all residents of Oahu.

“Together, we will continue our efforts to build a more inclusive, compassionate and safe Oahu for everyone,” the mayor concluded.

Jongwook “Wookie” Kim, legal director for ACLU Hawaii, called the city’s legal response and Blangiardi’s comments “disappointing.”

“Because instead of focusing on the legal questions and issues at play, the city has instead lined up a swathe of witnesses who are relying on genuinely awful stereotypes about houseless people and the houseless community, to then cast blame on that community, writ large, for every single societal problem we face here in Honolulu,” Kim said.

He added that the injunction sought by the ACLU “does not tie the city’s hands to enforce a whole variety of public welfare and public safety laws” allowing people suspected of committing property crimes or violent crimes to be arrested by law enforcement.

“All we’re asking is that laws that criminalize basic human acts of survival — sitting, lying and sleeping, those kinds of laws — cannot be enforced when there aren’t realistic alternatives,” he said.

In addition, Kim said he was equally disappointed with the mayor’s comments on the case.

“On the one hand his press statement says this is a ‘humanitarian crisis’ and that ‘homelessness is not a crime,’ but on the other hand he believes that enforcing all these criminal laws that were clearly designed to target houseless people, and who have nowhere else to sleep or simply exist, is the way to address this so-called humanitarian crisis, so that’s disappointing,” Kim said, adding that when Blangiardi campaigned for mayor he promised to end the homeless sweeps begun under his predecessor, Mayor Kirk Caldwell.

“But what we’re seeing now is actually the city doubling down on this harmful and ineffective strategy. So we’re doubly disappointed for that reason.”

Scheduled to be heard Wednesday by Judge John M. Tonaki, the ACLU motion for an injunction adds to the organization’s initial lawsuit which says the city’s homeless sweeps violate the rights of homeless people under the state constitution. The initial lawsuit, filed by the ACLU and the California- based civil rights law firm of Goldstein, Borgen, Dar­darian &Ho, names five homeless people as plaintiffs but also is aimed at protecting Oahu’s more than 2,300 estimated unsheltered individuals.

The lawsuit asks for no monetary award.

The ACLU motion is supported by written testimony from all five named plaintiffs in the lawsuit and statements from other homeless people and service providers — about 15 in total — who contend that irreparable harm is done to the homeless during and in the aftermath of the sweeps and other enforcement actions.

According to Kim, the judge’s decision on the motion — expected to be delivered before the end of this year — paves the way for a possible trial, likely to occur sometime next year.