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Hawaii News

Landlords will talk of letting the homeless rent property

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Homeless people were living under a bridge in Wahiawa on Tuesday. “You’re starting to see more and more homeless appear within Wahiawa town itself

More than 350 people have signed up to attend today’s Landlord Summit to learn what role landlords can play in reducing Hawaii’s homeless population, which is the largest per capita in America.

The summit is the result of a partnership among Gov. David Ige, the city, the Hawaii Association of Realtors and the nonprofit Partners in Care.

The summit begins with registration at 8:30 a.m. at Dole Cannery’s Pomaikai Ballroom and is scheduled to run until noon.

“We are really heartened to see such a tremendous response from the Oahu community,” said Bob Armstrong, marketing director of the Hawaii Association of Realtors.

The Landlord Summit will bring at least eight social services agencies together with landlords, property owners and real estate agents. It will feature a panel discussion that will include landlords’ experiences renting to formerly homeless tenants in a program known around the country as Housing First, which allows tenants to drink alcohol and use drugs while receiving so-called “wrap-around” social services to deal with their  problems.

The panel discussion will be led by Dan Cooke, weather anchorman of Hawaii News Now’s “Sunrise” broadcast.

The latest so-called “point in time count” in January counted 7,620 homeless people in the islands.

The Landlord Summit is free and includes free parking and a breakfast buffet.

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