ACLU wants Maui homeless sweeps to end

The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii this week demanded that Maui County stop homeless sweeps that were pending at county parks near wildfire-ravaged Lahaina.

Due in part to that formal request, Maui County officials say they’ve halted the planned relocation of homeless people residing on county-owned properties.

On Tuesday, ACLU Hawaii sent a letter to Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier and other county officials urging that sweeps of homeless — which the nonprofit described as “the forced eviction of houseless people” — should not commence.

The five-page demand letter says the affected homeless reside at or near Hanakaoo Beach Park and Wahikuli Wayside Park in the Lahaina area.

Based on an ACLU investigation, about 40 unsheltered people are living in public beach parks in and near Lahaina, including at or near Hanakaoo and Wahikuli parks.

“This group of people includes some who were houseless before the Lahaina fire, and some who were not. It includes people who ran barefoot from the flames, people who survived the fires by seeking shelter in a bathroom, people who jumped into the ocean to escape, and people who saved countless others during the horrific tragedy,” the ACLU letter states.

It adds that the “common thread with this group is that they were directly impacted by the Lahaina fire, are still experiencing significant trauma from that disaster, and simply have no place to go.”

The ACLU said the so-called “Lahaina Sweeps” were planned to occur on or around Wednesday.

“The County must halt the Lahaina Sweeps, which violate the constitutional rights of the many houseless people who have no choice but to live in public spaces in the wake of the devastating fires that destroyed Lahaina,” the ACLU’s demand letter states. “Alternatively, the County should postpone the Lahaina Sweeps by seven days to allow for discussion of an alternative path forward that mitigates the harm to an incredibly vulnerable community and aligns with the County’s stated ‘Policy on addressing unsheltered residents in Maui County.’”

As part of its submitted letter to Maui County, the ACLU offered photographic evidence of the planned sweeps: an orange-colored paper notice to vacate — distributed by the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation’s Enforcement Section — that was either posted or reportedly handed out to homeless people at Hanakaoo Beach Park.

“Indeed, on or around Oct. 24, 2023, some such individuals received a ‘Notice to Vacate,’” the ACLU’s letter states. “The Notice threatens ‘any person who remains on the premises’ with criminal prosecution for ‘trespass or other law violations.’ The notice also states that ‘unattended personal belongings will be subject to collection and removal’ by the county.

“The notice provides no information to the recipient about, whether and how individuals can retrieve any seized property,” the demand letter states. “The County’s execution of the Lahaina Sweeps under these circumstances would violate the Hawaii and U.S. constitutions in multiple ways.”

The ACLU argued that homeless sweeps “very likely violate the prohibition on ‘cruel or unusual punishment’ enshrined in Article 1, Section 12 of the Hawaii Constitution and the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

And according to the county’s notice, those who reside at Hanakaoo Beach Park were to vacate by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Mahina Martin, Maui County’s chief of communications and public affairs, confirmed that the county stopped the notices to vacate.

“We stopped it, we didn’t proceed with it,” Martin told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser by phone. “It doesn’t mean the issue doesn’t go away.”

She noted the reason those actions were stopped was partly due to the ACLU’s demand letter.

“Certainly, the ACLU had pointed out some important facts,” she added.

Still, Martin said plans to relocate homeless people off county properties — like parks — was done with the Maui community in mind.

“In some instances we addressed the concerns of neighborhoods and businesses who asked for our assistance,” Martin said in a related email. “These instances were brought to our attention as they faced escalating public health and safety conditions such as blocked access, disorderly conduct, public defecation, and a large amount of littering.”

Maui County worked to secure “available placement and support services for those willing to accept” assistance, she added.

“Coordination between the county and service providers have existed in helping individuals one at a time as well as with encampments that grew to have incredibly large amounts of abandoned vehicles and accumulated trash,” Martin said. “Removal of those vehicles and trash were done with weeks of coordination with encampment occupants to ensure their safety.”

That work involved the mayor’s office, Department of Housing and Human Concerns, Maui Police Department’s community outreach unit, Department of Parks and Recreation, the Department of Environmental Management and Department of Public Works, she said.

“We are facing a situation in West Maui where growing concerns from residents who want to make use of their West Maui parks for their families and own recreational use have asked that the County enforce existing no camping rules,” Martin said. “The disaster crisis has posed conditions that we are making our way through, including supporting both those who desire to enjoy their parks in Lahaina as they heal from the tragedy of the last several weeks and those who are houseless and also in need of support.”

On Wednesday, Jongwook “Wookie” Kim, legal director for ACLU Hawaii, also confirmed Maui County would not move forward with planned homeless sweeps.

“We have not yet received any official response to our letter,” Kim told the Star-Advertiser by phone. “(But) that is our understanding, and hopefully the county abides by its stated commitments.”

He added “the hope here is that the county does figure out an alternative path forward that doesn’t involve further traumatizing or worsening the livelihoods of so many people who are really, really in hard times.”

The ACLU’s letter asserts that even before the disaster, Maui County “had a bleak landscape of shelter availability.”

“On any given night pre-disaster, there were about 387 unsheltered individuals (including 113 in Lahaina alone), but few available beds in emergency shelters islandwide. But the landscape post-disaster is far bleaker,” the letter states. “Many thousands more have become houseless due to the fire, putting immense strain on existing services. Yet the shelters have no capacity.”

That the fire destroyed Ka Hale a ke Ola’s entire 78-unit, Lahaina-based Westside Center, did not help matters, the ACLU says.

“And while laudable efforts have been made to stand up other emergency shelters (including Puuhonua o Nene), we understand that even with those additions, Maui’s shelters are currently at or over capacity,” the ACLU letters states. “In short, shelters are full, and people have nowhere to go.”