Homeless sweeps cause ‘invisible harm’
Days after Hilo was stunned by a homeless woman giving birth on a sidewalk and a man dying after a fight near a homeless encampment, the county and state did a sweep of the Mo‘oheau encampment.
You can see the cleared park. But not the invisible harm.
Sweeps take away essentials: clothing, bedding, tents, medicines and vital documents. Homeless people must start again from square one to replace everything. Service agencies dip into their limited budgets to assist, leaving less money for long-term solutions.
Arrests during sweeps may mean criminal records that bar people from jobs and housing.
After sweeps, people may move far away from places that provide meals, clothing, showers, jobs and financial and medical assistance. Service agencies often cannot find clients again, and any progress they were making is lost.
Sweeps also destroy the intangibles that encampments provide: a place to leave your possessions, instead of dragging them everywhere and risking theft; some protection from crime and harassment; friends who will loan you a can opener or bicycle pump; people who support and advise you.
Sweeps cost money — to plan the sweep and warn people beforehand, execute the sweep, transport and store seized items, and clean up trash. That means less money for approaches with a better track record for long-term results.
Better approaches include:
Housing first and rapid rehousing — people do better with unemployment, substance abuse and other problems when freed from the daily struggle to find food, water and shelter.
Supportive housing — people receive assistance with budgeting, job-hunting, job training and education, so they won’t fall back into homelessness.
Emergency rent money — preventing just one eviction can keep people from falling into a vicious cycle of homelessness.
Sweeps cause harm. Thoughtful, research-based, long-term solutions do not.
Cory Harden
Hilo
The DHHL needs to be audited
This is in reference to Aaron Stene’s letter to the editor (Jan. 21).
First, Why did Walmart and Office Max receive a lease from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands before we Hawaiians get our lease? Where does the money go?
We Hawaiians have been suppressed, exploited and used for the benefit of the state for over a century.
We Hawaiians don’t ask for much! We are poor and suffering since 1898.
They did a audit on the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and found corruption, and the state’s entity (OHA) gets away with it for years.
Gov. David Ige pledged $600 million. Where is that money going to? His friends and family who own construction companies?
Why do you think we have homeless people? Because they step on us Hawaiians, and call us drug and alcohol abusers. What would you have them do after coming from families that continue to wait for a piece of our own land?
I was brought up depending on our land for food and shelter. Period.
If I would have the choice, I would audit the DHHL and find out what and who is getting the land and money that they supposedly have been getting for the Hawaiians.
Don’t make excuses for corruption.
Allen Branco
Hilo