Seven Hawaii Police Department Community Policing officers along with six state and county roads division employees spent Friday morning clearing a homeless camp site on Kuakini Highway in Kailua-Kona.
The camp, located across from Coconut Grove Marketplace in Historic Kailua Vilalge, had been occupied for just two weeks by a 55-year-old man who suffers from bipolar disorder and Tourette’s syndrome.
Two small dump trucks and one 40-foot roll-off dumpster were filled to the brim with materials the individual accumulated on the property.
Kona Community Policing Officer Dwayne Sluss said Care Hawaii and 808 Homeless Task Force were working with the man to get him stabilized, and, hopefully, off the streets.
Sluss estimated the cost in manpower and equipment to perform Friday’s clean up to be $10,000.
“This was after the owner of the adjacent lot paid a private contractor to come clean up the same guys mess two weeks ago it cost the property owner $7,200. So one homeless person in a three-week period has racked up over $17,000 in clean-up costs. Private and tax payer to pay it,” he said.
The county was called in for the effort because of the proximity to a storm drain and associated health hazards.