Laurel Mackie has come to Waikiki for the past 28 years, but the Canadian visitor said she’s exploring other options because the destination’s growing homeless population has ruined the tourist experience.
"I look out of my balcony and I see people passed out. And, worse yet, I have friends that have been physically assaulted by the homeless," Mackie said. "With safety concerns and the fact that Waikiki is becoming an overpriced Beverly Hills slum of the Pacific, it seems a no-brainer to think about choosing another destination."
A rise in chronic homelessness in Waikiki has led to a growing litany of complaints as tourists and visitor industry officials alike report homeless people defecating and urinating in streets and hotel gardens, stealing towels and other supplies, aggressively panhandling, and blocking access to parks and beaches.
Members of Waikiki’s visitor industry, residents and businesspeople are saying "enough is enough" and are calling on the state, city and Oahu’s nonprofits to take immediate action to address what they say has become a very public and embarrassing crisis.
They also contend that they want to be part of the solution.
They say they want to see housing initiatives and legislation that would prevent homeless people from trespassing at hotels and taking over the tourist district’s sidewalks, beaches and parks. Tourism officials have comped hotel rooms and meals for homeless solution experts to come to Honolulu and conduct training.
They are exploring ways that they can assist the city in keeping at least one of its Waikiki public bathrooms open for 24 hours. And they are talking about helping homeless service providers do more outreach so that Waikiki’s sidewalks, parks and beaches are open to all.
IN A SERIES of informal meetings hosted by state Sen. Brickwood Galuteria (D, Kakaako-McCully-Waikiki), Waikiki stakeholders have voiced their concerns to an array of government and tourism industry leaders, including state Housing Coordinator Colin Kippen; Mayor Kirk Caldwell; Bruce Coppa, Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s chief of staff; George Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawai‘i Lodging & Tourism Association; Mike McCartney, Hawaii Tourism Authority president and CEO; Waikiki Improvement Association President Rick Egged; Waikiki Neighborhood Board Chairman Robert Finley; Honolulu Police Department officials; and others.
"I consider homeless to be a natural disaster situation not unlike a tsunami of sorts, and the tone of the response should be equal to that," Galuteria said.
The need for such urgency appears supported by recent data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that show between 2007 and 2013, chronic homelessness in Hawaii grew by 32.5 percent. From 2012 to 2013, Hawaii added 121 more chronically homeless individuals to its count.
In Honolulu, 4,556 individuals were homeless on a single night in January 2013, placing the city at the top of the list of similar-size areas with the largest homeless populations. Honolulu’s count of 785 chronic homeless people also placed it at the bottom of the 10-worst list for chronic homelessness in similar-size cities.
Tourism officials say they are worried about the impact on the state’s $15 billion visitor industry as more and more visitors publicly complain about encounters with homeless people throughout Waikiki.
"We don’t like homeless challenges anywhere, but the visitor industry supports 175,000 jobs across the state and Waikiki is the economic engine that drives that train," Szigeti said. "We spend millions marketing the state to get tourists to come here. We have to protect their experience. If we don’t, everybody loses because the negative economic impacts will spread."
SOME MEMBERS of the visitor industry worry that homelessness has already affected tourism, especially in Waikiki. According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Hawaii saw a leveling-off of its 2014 arrivals and visitor expenditures during the first three months of the year.
While the state saw a slight increase in arrivals from international markets, its core domestic market declined by 4.5 percent.
"Sure, hotel prices and airfares are up, but homelessness is another outlier that could be affecting demand," said Elizabeth Churchill, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Aqua Hospitality. "This is the industry’s No. 1 complaint. It’s mission critical that we do something now."
Galuteria said one of the challenges identified during meetings with Waikiki’s visitor industry is that the destination does not have a nearby homeless shelter and it lacks affordable housing.
Kippen said that rapid rehousing of newly homeless people and the Housing First model, which provides housing and services to the state’s most vulnerable homeless, remain Hawaii’s and Waikiki’s best hope.
"We are in the business of trying to end homelessness rather than simply manage it now," Kippen said.
He pointed out that the average length of stay for someone in an emergency shelter in 2013 was 124 days, and that the average single person spent 224 days and the average family 350 days in transitional housing.
"That’s a long time for someone to be in a transitional state," he said. "If we can move those people into permanent housing, we can save a substantial amount of money."
Joe Damrell, a 62-year-old man living in Kapiolani Park, said he doesn’t want to lose his independence by going to a shelter, but would be willing to try Housing First.
"I’d love to live indoors again," said Damrell, who has been homeless in Waikiki for about six years. "I used to come here on vacation. I used to have a home and mortgage. Work is hard to find and finances are a big impediment here. Sometimes there’s just not much you can do. You just end up like this."
Getting people, especially those who have been homeless for years, to get past their individual challenges and into shelters and permanent housing is difficult, said Connie Mitchell, executive director for the Institute for Human Services. From her front-line perspective, she said it would be helpful if the tourism industry in Waikiki would work with service providers to fund more assertive outreach and transportation to get homeless people to shelters.
"HUD is funding less and less of that kind of service and it’s really up to the state and county, who have limited resources, to fund it," she said. "We are looking to have more partnerships with the private sector."
Mitchell said she also would like to see Hawaii’s visitor industry provide employment opportunities to homeless individuals who can work and financial support to help subsidize rent for those trying to dig out of their situation.
"We invite people to come in, but we expect those who are able-bodied to work," Mitchell said. "If they aren’t working, we’ll try to get them stabilized and, to the degree that they are able, contributing to the community. If you get a job, it’s hard to maintain that job if you are on the street."
Kippen said it also would be helpful if the industry and the community would work to identify potential apartment units or buildings in Waikiki or nearby to be used to provide Housing First homes.
"In terms of chronically homeless, Waikiki is over-represented," Kippen said. "If we can house them, we can get them insured and by just providing rental support, we can get them the services they need."
While finding Waikiki landlords willing to rent units to homeless individuals or to support housing projects has been difficult, Szigeti said, there are signs that the industry and the community are less resistant than they have been.
"I tell people that the homeless are living here anyway," he said. "I like the idea of Housing First and wraparound services. People aren’t going to voluntarily walk into shelters."
Housing First has helped Arizona, Houston and New Orleans make "remarkable strides" in reducing chronic homelessness, said Matthew Doherty, director of national initiatives for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. "We’re not seeing it yet in Honolulu, but in the time that I’ve been working there, the focus on the goal is much stronger."
Jesse Broder Van Dyke, spokesman for Caldwell, said the city has had regular meetings with stakeholders in Waikiki, including representatives from the visitor industry and service providers.
"Complaints about homelessness in general and in Waikiki are received daily via mail, email, phone and in person. As media attention to the issue has increased, so has public outcry," Broder Van Dyke said. "Public awareness and understanding of the issue (are) essential to justifying the expense of making progress."
MAKING PROGRESS in getting homeless families and individuals into permanent, supportive housing is a major priority for the Caldwell administration, he said, noting the mayor’s proposed $18.9 million for Housing First and $3 million for support services.
Kippen said while the mayor and City Council have not yet agreed on how much money will be made available for Housing First, the state Senate and the House conferees on Tuesday agreed to make a permanent $1.5 million annual appropriation to the program.
The news comes just a week after HUD Secretary Mark Johnston came to Honolulu and announced that Hawaii’s homeless housing and service programs would be getting $10.7 million in grants. Kippen and colleagues also recently returned from Washington, D.C., where they participated in Boot Camps to End Chronic and Veteran Homelessness, a program for 25 cities with the nation’s highest rates of chronic homelessness.
Doherty said the camp will connect Honolulu to the strategies that are working in other communities.
"There probably are opportunities to engage the business community and hotel industry," he added.
For instance, Doherty said, Los Angeles and San Diego are communities where public and private partnership have yielded positive results.
While Honolulu still has further to go, Doherty said, "I think it’s a really hopeful sign when the business community doesn’t just ask for the problem to be solved for them, but are asking to be part of the solution and trying to find ways to make them permanent."
