The city has taken a critical step, if a measured one, toward addressing the problem of homelessness in Hawaii. This week Mayor Kirk Caldwell signed bills to curb encampments and undesirable behavior, with a particular focus on Waikiki.
And describing it as "measured" is not a criticism: Enforcing the new, so-called "sit-lie" law must be decisive, done in a coordinated way with efforts to direct homeless individuals and families to emergency shelters that can provide a safer haven than the streets, as well as medical and social services.
Police and other resources must be deployed firmly to achieve meaningful, consistent and lasting enforcement of this law.
All this is going to take a while to work out, even within the limited geographic area of Waikiki.
The establishment of a short-term shelter on Sand Island is not a done deal, and the city won’t be placing the chronically homeless in permanent housing, through its "Housing First" program, until October at the earliest.
So Caldwell and the City Council ought to rethink their support of bills to expand this restriction beyond Waikiki, at least until it’s had a chance to be proven effective in that zone. The Council moved too hastily this week in advancing legislation that would add 11 commercial zones on Oahu to the target list; a final vote will be held next month.
The administration has said there is enough shelter space to offer as an alternative to Waikiki’s chronically homeless, but capacity has not been established for those living unsheltered in areas throughout Oahu.
Beyond the capacity issue, sit-lie ordinances that are limited in some way have more easily withstood court challenges when they’ve been introduced in other jurisdictions. So the immediate priority should be on keeping sidewalks clear and the environment clean in Hawaii’s premiere tourist destination, in a manner the courts are likely to uphold.
The new sit-lie ordinance, also known as Bill 42, would prohibit people from sitting or lying on sidewalks in Waikiki.
Caldwell also signed two bills prohibiting public urination and defecation, one targeting Waikiki and one applying to all other parts of Oahu except the downtown-Chinatown neighborhoods that already are covered by a state law.
But the Council also must ensure that efforts to make more public bathrooms available will continue. Some private-sector partners could engage in that initiative.
Advocates for the homeless have called out the city, as well as private businesses, for providing inadequate access to basic bathroom amenities for those living on the streets, and on that score, they are correct. Life for homeless individuals is intolerable, and the challenges in living conditions for homeless parents and children are all but insurmountable.
Recently, Star-Advertiser writer Allison Schaefers set out with staff photographer Krystle Marcellus to chronicle life on Honolulu’s streets. Their stories and images bore witness to some of the heartbreaking personal crises that drove people into homelessness.
There are some in the grip of mental illness and substance abuse, some suffering from both. Honolulu should lose no more time in delivering on its Housing First promises.
But for the immediate future, the city would not be doing the homeless any favors by leaving them in the streets of Waikiki. Existing shelter space would be preferable to the sidewalk, while something more humane is being readied.
