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ACLU wants Maui homeless sweeps to end
The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii this week demanded that Maui County stop homeless sweeps that were pending at county parks near wildfire- ravaged Lahaina. Read more
TO OUR READERS
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now are joining forces to report on the ever-worsening homelessness crisis.
While both news organizations will continue to report daily stories on homelessness, we will work together on bigger projects that delve into all aspects of the issue. To reach the widest possible audience for these important projects on this crisis, you will see reports in print, online and on broadcasts.
For example, on this page of the Star-Advertiser and in Hawaii News Now broadcasts on Monday, you will find stories on homeless encampments you might not be aware of and learn details about some of them.
Through stories such as these, we hope to raise awareness among the public — and public officials — about the gravity of the situation and the need to take action to help the homeless and, by doing so, help our community.
Both newsrooms hope you, as readers and viewers, will help with this project by offering comments, observations and suggestions online and in letters to the editor. While a collaboration between two competing newsrooms is unusual, Hawaii’s homelessness crisis requires an unusual approach.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii this week demanded that Maui County stop homeless sweeps that were pending at county parks near wildfire- ravaged Lahaina. Read more
A new pop-up homeless shelter on Maui with air- conditioned group tents, free meals, health services and planned movie nights has drawn considerable use a week after opening to serve people who were homeless in Lahaina before the town was leveled Aug. 8 by fire. Read more
Mayor Rick Blangiardi is fighting back against litigation condemning the city’s use of homeless sweeps in Honolulu. Read more
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The Honolulu Police Department would be tasked with enforcing the proposed ordinance if it is approved in subsequent bill readings. Read more
The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii has filed for a preliminary injunction against homeless sweeps in Honolulu. Read more
With the new mobile clinic, WCCHC aims to increase access to quality health care for the vulnerable, particularly those facing complex forms of homelessness on the island’s West side — from Kapolei to Makua. Read more
The lawsuit names five homeless plaintiffs but also seeks to protect Oahu’s more than 2,300 estimated unsheltered homeless. Read more
The lawsuit follows a victory this month in Washington by a sister ACLU organization that got Seattle’s homeless ordinances ruled unconstitutional. Read more
The city has tripled its workforce that clears homeless encampments across Oahu every day and night — Monday through Friday — with some cleanups on weekends. Read more
The goal is to get 12,000 stalled projects online as soon as possible and a total of 50,000 homes — most of them considered “affordable” — within five years. Read more
The “medical respite” kauhale called Pulama Ola takes in homeless people well enough to be discharged from a hospital but not healthy enough to live safely on the street, where even minor wounds can turn septic. Read more
Hawaii government leaders received a personal invitation Monday to apply for a record pool of federal grant funding for combating homelessness. Read more
Homelessness increased again on Oahu, according to the latest federally required annual survey, but only slightly and in fewer numbers than many metro areas on the mainland. Read more
The first of 12 units for Hawaii’s medical respite kauhale arrived Tuesday across the street from The Queen’s Medical Center in the mauka section of the state Department of Health parking lot, steps away from the Governor’s Mansion. Read more
The objective of the medical respites is to help homeless people — that come out of Queen’s ER — who need a place to recover. Read more
The state of Hawaii will pay to send homeless people back to the mainland as long as they have someone to welcome and house them there. Read more
The Legislature has backed expanding Gov. Josh Green’s “kauhale” efforts to create permanent villages of tiny homes for homeless people across the islands, along with Hawaii’s first-ever effort to provide affordable rental units for teachers and other public school employees. Read more
Gov. Josh Green hopes the medical respite kauhale will represent a new wave of 25 more kauhale in communities across the islands. Read more
The number of homeless increased on the neighbor islands by 9% overall, including a 5% decrease on Maui, according to the latest annual Point in Time Count. Read more
River of Life Mission, once the center of blame for homelessness in Chinatown, has reinvented its model to aid the needy by shutting down its Chinatown feeding program and instead helping the homeless at 40 different sites across Oahu, with plans to expand to the neighbor islands and even to foreign countries. Read more
Council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam did not know that the city had forced the Sand Island Treatment Center into his district in Iwilei, but toured it on Monday to try to figure out how to ease its $36,000 in new monthly costs. Read more
