Homelessness in Hawaii, particularly in the capital Honolulu, has become a top concern for state officials. To combat this, the Hawaii state government has created an antidote – the “Return to Home” initiative. Ideally, this program will help solve the economic strain homelessness has placed on Hawaii’s state economy by providing the volunteering-homeless a one-way plane ticket back to the mainland, announced the State’s Department of Human Services in July, reports NPR. Although no final decisions have been made, the plan will give the state legislature $100,000 annually for first three years of the program to send homeless back to their families in the mainland, the NPR online article says. Of course, the people must leave voluntarily, but will be given a one-way plane ticket to be reunited with their families, if they choose. Homelessness is a key contributor to several larger governmental issues in Hawaii including; public health and safety, social justice, and civil liberties issues, as well as a hindrance on the reliable tourism industry of Hawaii says NPR. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in an interview conducted with NPR, “It costs Hawaii about $11 million a year to run 35 local homeless housing and service programs -- services that homeless residents desperately need.” The initiative plans to save taxpayers money by drastically reducing state services. “If Hawaii successfully reunited 100 homeless with their families on the mainland, this would easily save millions of dollars in welfare benefits/taxpayer costs,” said John Mizuno, vice speaker of the State House of Representatives to “Forbes Magazine.” Hawaii’s public beaches and steady, comfortable climate attract tourists and travelers all over the world. Connie Mitchell, executive director of the Summer Homeless Men’s Shelter in Honolulu, told NPR: “We are a tourist destination that attracts people who are homeless or people who have resources, and that’s something that we really can’t control.” The problem is that not all of Hawaii’s visitors leave. According to AP, “Homelessness increased 15 percent on Oahu since last year according to a recent report. A growing number of homeless are not from Hawaii but make the most of their situation by taking advantage of inviting beaches and support services. State lawmakers are struggling with the visible problem of homelessness in tourist areas and some have proposed a contentious idea to use state money to fly the homeless back to wherever they came from.” Sherry Menor-McNamara, chief operating officer of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, estimates the cost of providing for one homeless person in Hawaii is “about $1,500 to $3,000 per month.” Instead of monthly assistance from the state, a one-way plane ticket is a cheaper and more permanent solution, says state officials. The largest problem facing the homeless initiative is identification. The homeless are quite frequently living without any legal documentation or papers which makes tracking down a home a difficult task. A lack of identification makes it nearly impossible to track any family or relatives back on the mainland as well. The Mitchell told NPR “one-third of the people who stay [in Hawaii] come from out of state.” According to Menor-McNamara, only 42 percent of all homeless people are actually from Hawaii. The plan still faces great opposition from skeptics claiming that this approach will not solve the issue of homelessness, but will simply relocate the issue to another place.
Writer: Austin Meldrum~Multimedia Journalist
