Homelessness is an important social issue across the US. This issue is especially prevalent in Hawaii and is constantly a major social and political issue in the state. I felt like I wanted to cover this topic because of the memories I have of working part time in Honolulu and seeing homelessness first hand and the people affected by it. You will see me use the term RCP (residentially challenged people) or RCPs throughout this post and that is because as Kirk Caldwell the mayor of Honolulu has said the term homeless sounds derogatory to say to someone.
The reason why Hawaii is the focus of this post is because Hawaii has the highest rate of homelessness out of any other state at 554 RCPs every 100,000 people according to the United States Interagency Council of Homelessness. The reason for the higher rates of homelessness could be potentially attributed to various factors from the very high cost of living to the climate. The effects of the mass homelessness are detrimental to Hawaii's economy which is why the topic of homelessness can be political. In case you don’t already know Hawaii’s economy is almost solely reliant on tourism and according to the head of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, George Szigeti, “the number one reason that people were saying they would not come back to Hawaii was homelessness”. Since the Hawaii Tourism Authority views homelessness as a threat something must be done.
However that does not mean the issue will be corrected in a way that is beneficial for the RCPs. In fact if anything it made life even worse the RCPs. It is important to understand that 2 major tourist hotspots in Oahu are Waikiki and Chinatown both of which had problems with homelessness that appeared to be scaring away tourists. So laws were passed in Oahu which made it illegal to sit or lie on sidewalks in Waikiki and Chinatown. Laws were also passed that allowed police to seize belonging left in public areas. Both of these laws directly target RCP and criminalize being homeless in these areas. However these laws did nothing in the way of combating homelessness. The only thing they accomplished was pushing the RCPs out of Waikiki, Chinatown and other popular tourist hotspots. As the laws continue to spread across Oahu it seems that RCPs are being pushed out of all developed areas on the island. Although the homeless population in Waikiki dropped from 559 to 167 RCPs. This was only on a targeted group which was only selected because of the effect they had on tourism and rather than helping them most of them were simple being displaced.
On the matter David Ige the Governor of Hawaii said, “If you are just enforcing and moving people from location to location you are not really reducing or solving the problem. It’s just making it someone else’s problems”. I think that homelessness in Hawaii is not an issue that can be solved overnight even though that seems to be how the state is trying to handle it by criminalizing homelessness. However without giving the RCPs the means of recovering you make it impossible for them to recover. Criminalizing homelessness only burdens the RCP with tickets and fines that perpetuate their homelessness. Instead Hawaii need a more long term solution that will actually combat the issue instead of pushing it aside.
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| A homeless woman with her belongings on the banks of the Ala Wai Canal in Honolulu in March. Monica Almeida/The New York Times |
This is a really interesting topic particularly because as you've said, a problem as big as homelessness has now somehow become political, meaning that's it's just been added to the long list of other problems that need to be solved by other people with power. You mentioned that instead of tackling the problem of homelessness head-on and figuring out how to reduce the number of RCPs, that state leaders instead criminalized many of the actions of RCPs to push them out of touristy areas. The leaders are leaving the population of RCPs in a blind spot where they themselves aren't seeing any real solutions, which to me looks similar to the problems Keshavjee discusses in his book.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article! I found it really cool that you are talking about your first-hand experience of homelessness in Hawaii considering the statistic you provided saying that Hawaii has one of the largest homelessness rate. I found it interesting that Hawaii referred to homeless people as, RCP, residentially challenged people, I had never heard that term before. Although the laws in Oahu were passed it just pushed the RCP to a new location and doesn’t help the on-going issue of homelessness. There needs to be places for RCP to go to help receive help and get their lives started in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post and was interested in a lot of the comments made. The quote that the mayor made, "If you are just enforcing and moving people from location to location you are not really reducing or solving the problem. It’s just making it someone else’s problems”, feels very applicable to homelessness everywhere. If we do not work to eliminate homelessness all together, we are never really fixing anything we are just making certain cities have greater problems with homelessness than others. What I am most interested in are people's opinions on people who are considered RCPs, but refuse help offered to them. Just last week I was leaving a restaurant in downtown Portland and I saw a girl offer to buy a homeless man food who was going through the trash looking for food. He became very offended and told her he didn't need her help. I'm sure although this is probably fairly rare, there are some homeless people who refuse to take handouts or accept help from anyone. How can we as a society assist these people and attempt to come up with solutions for people who refuse help?
ReplyDeleteIn reference to Rachel's question, I think we have to separate an individual's moral stance on whether or not to accept help from the systemic conditions that have led them to be homeless. Clearly, the primary solution is to eliminate those systemic expulsions so RCPs don't live on the fringes of society. I see one person offering them food as a temporary relief, very different from societal assistance, as you mention.
ReplyDeleteI am also curious to know the effect of tourism on RCPs in Hawaii. I wonder if the tourism-centered structure of the economy increases house prices drastically, thus making it even harder for folks to not remain RCPs.
I thought this was super interesting! It is really cool that you have first hand experience with this pressing issue. Just like when we read the New Jim Crow, they are criminalizing people on thing they can not necessarily help. In the New Jim Crow people are criminalized based off their skin color and here they are criminalized because they can't afford necessities. Things need to change here too.
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