Homeless Update - July 24th

As often stated, the homeless situation in Hawai’i is totally out of control. Myriad new faces of homelessness have been spotted and observed in a variety of “litmus test” locations. The gym in town is perhaps the leading homeless incubator, at least for the new arrivals from the mainland empire.

Homeless squatters are now popping up everywhere between downtown and Hawai’i Kai. The transient homeless are also multiplying, mot of whom can be observed setting up night camps after 6pm along the major streets. Details and sightings can be listed, but the effort is pointless.

There is also an alarming increase in homeless senior citizens. Obviously, many of them live on fixed incomes. Given the choice of paying rent or purchasing food and medication, many opt for the latter. The situation is likely to worsen when the rent for “affordable” housing increases again.

A young homeless hottie has been spotted at Ala Moana Center recently, most likely the result of some kind of domestic problem. That’s usually the reason for homelessness amongst young hotties. There has also been an increase in their numbers, too. Puzzling, though, is that the young homeless hottie prefers to wear tight, skimpy outfits. Not exactly a wise decision.

Many of the same faces are still on the streets after many years. For example, the 70-ish homeless guy is still out in Hawai’i Kai. He still owns the beat-up Nissan® Sentra homeless motorhome. Then, there’s the infamous Reggie. He’s still around and has been observed in numerous locations.

Further investigation will be necessary to determine the fallback rate of formerly-homeless people who have been placed into “affordable” housing using Housing First funding. Rent for the first month and security deposit are provided for. After that, the formerly-homeless tenant is on his/her own. There is reason to believe that many of them can barely make it through the typical one-year lease.

As stated previously in Notes, the homeless situation is a “revolving door.” The institution serving the homeless population are only concerned about quantitative data (i.e., number of homeless placed into housing). There is no focus on retention.