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Honolulu HI, #8 meanest city
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One would not think that Hawaii, with its beautiful beaches, extensive tourism, and the friendly nature of the Polynesian people, that Hawaii would not rank Honolulu, HI, as the #8 city for being mean to homeless people. Yet, according to opinions expressed by Government officials there, it is all about the money. It is all about tourism and making sure that tourists don’t see any problems with Hawaii.
So what has Hawaii done that is so wrong in caring for the homeless? Since 2006 the City Council has been closing off beaches to sleeping at night, spending thousands of dollars on retrofitting bus stop benches to prevent people from sleeping on them, to making the homeless sleep during the day to avoid arrest from sleeping at night. This last one also makes it harder for the homeless to find employment. Even when the Hawaii state court overturned some of Honolulu’s ordinances as being unfair, the city officials went ahead and made a new law with slightly different wording and began enforcing that one.
Rather than end homelessness with jobs and affordable housing, Hawaii and Honolulu in particular are just treating the side effects of homelessness rather than attacking the problem which caused it. It is all in an effort to push the homeless problem out of the view of the ever mighty money maker of the Hawaiian economy, tourism. As with any other state or “mean city” pushing the problem out of sight will not cure any problem, it will just make sure that the problem grows. Homeless people can’t just think, “Oh, they have pushed me out of sight, so I have to do something all on my own to ease my plight.”
It would be nice if they could, however someone has to help. No matter how willing someone is to work towards bettering their situation, this is one kind of situation that needs assistance of Government. Housing doesn’t grow on trees, and neither do jobs. I will say, I have no data on how many homeless are chronically homeless due to addictions of one form or another, but once again, those who fall into that category make it bad for the homeless who fell through the cracks in our failed economy.
To make matters worse not just for the reputation of Hawaii but worse in numbers of homeless for other states, both the City Council and the Hawaii State Legislature are considering purchasing one way flights for the homeless to dump them on another state.
That is not just plain rude, but it is the kind of attitude that would make some of this country’s more caring people think twice about spending their hard earned dough on a Hawaiian vacation. It is a plan, which if implemented, will surely backfire on the Hawaiian economy.
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