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Affordable housing, transportation and public safety at the forefront for Honolulu mayor
Mayor Rick Blangiardi on Tuesday ranked affordable housing, public safety and transportation among top priorities in his State of the City address. 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.
Mayor Rick Blangiardi on Tuesday ranked affordable housing, public safety and transportation among top priorities in his State of the City address. Read more
After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, more than 300 volunteers dispersed across Oahu on Thursday morning to record the number of unsheltered homeless people for the annual Point-in-Time count. Read more
After one year the city has achieved its goal of housing over 300 homeless families using a voucher program supported through federal pandemic relief funds. Read more
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A new temporary tent shelter for homeless adults infected with COVID-19 opened Friday at Sand Island. The Institute for Human Services set up the shelter in response to the need to isolate those infected with the coronavirus from individuals at its homeless shelters. Read more
Oahu has postponed its Point-in-Time Count of unsheltered homeless people due to the surge of COVID-19 cases. Read more
The final touches are being applied to Hawaii’s first “kauhale” of 100-square-foot homes in Kalaeloa, providing permanent housing for some of Hawaii’s chronically homeless and most-troubled people living on the street and in shelters. Read more
The children of Kahauiki Village — a community along North Nimitz Highway of 128 formerly homeless families — wrote letters to Santa Claus on Wednesday, including one girl who asked the jolly old elf for a job so she can help out her family. Read more
Homeless people cleared from an encampment near a Kahului park have sued Maui Mayor Michael Victorino and the county, saying the move was unconstitutional and violated their rights. Read more
The city Friday launched its new Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement program, which will use a separate teams of first responders to address nonviolent emergency calls involving the homeless. Read more
Gov. David Ige’s administration is considering a proposal to ask state lawmakers to continue a pilot program tailored to create solutions for homelessness that’s set to expire in 2023. Read more
The city’s long-awaited Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement program, which will use a separate team of first responders to address nonviolent homeless emergency calls, is expected to start in the next two weeks. Read more
The foundation of Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s homelessness strategy was built on two promises: He assured the public that he would end sweeps of encampments and replace police with social workers to address nonviolent 911 calls. Read more
Homeless sweeps are no longer conducted and the new Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement approach represented Blangiardi’s first homeless-related idea of his own, albeit modeled after a similar program borrowed from Denver. Read more
The Department of Planning and Permitting issued a notice of violation against a church-backed foundation helping house the homeless by erecting 50 plastic storage sheds on a 4-acre Waianae farm. Read more
Jinna Stevens and Lovely Reiger can identify with the hundreds of people who wait in line each week for a hot meal and groceries from St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church’s Wallyhouse outreach program in Kalihi-Palama. Read more
The 2021 Point-in-Time Count of people living in homeless shelters showed a significant decrease compared with previous years due to the COVID-19 pandemic limiting the amount of available shelter space, to account for social distancing. Read more
A state-contracted researcher spent three nights sleeping this weekend at the Homeless Outreach and Navigation for Unsheltered Persons facility at Keehi Lagoon Beach Park, and found it to be an “extraordinary success.” Read more
Oahu has about $24 million in federal COVID-19 funds to spend on homelessness outreach and housing — of which $10 million is going to a new program called Oahu Housing Now. It places homeless individuals and families into market-rate rental units. Read more
As a young boy in postwar Korea, Duk Whan Kim grew up poor, never having enough to eat, and vowed that when he got older he would make it his life’s work to help those in need. Read more
The city opened its second short-term homeless shelter in Wahiawa’s Whitmore Village this week. The project, HONU (Homeless Outreach and Navigation for Unsheltered Persons), uses inflatable tents to offer services to unsheltered individuals and families 24 hours a day. Read more
Eddie Flores, chairman of the ubiquitous L&L Hawaiian Barbecue chain, is willing to pay out of his own pocket to help beautify Chinatown but worries about the bigger problem of Chinatown’s homeless, which he sees getting worse. Read more
