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Homeless in Honolulu’s historic Chinatown district

By Photos by Bruce Asato, Craig T. Kojima and Dennis Oda

May 11, 2019

1/21
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Video by Craig T. Kojima, Dennis Oda and Bruce Asato
An Institute for Human Services survey found that 172 people were homeless in Chinatown throughout 2018. Residents, merchants and police in Honolulu's historic Chinatown district are grappling with a growing homeless population.
2/21
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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM

Carol Akemoto finds a place to lie down along a Pauahi Street sidewalk.
3/21
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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM

Mikey Alapaki sits along the North Hotel Street sidewalk, holding up a sign that reads "HAPPY EASTER!! Please Help!! Can Spare $5.00 for Clothes & Meals!! God Bless You & Thank You. Aloha!!"
4/21
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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM

Johnny Robert, Jr., sits in his wheelchair along a River Street sidewalk.
5/21
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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM

A Chinatown Watch sign on a door declares "No Sitting or Lying on Sidewalk 5:00 pm - 11:00 pm and No Shopping Carts - Enforced by Police."
6/21
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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM

Carol Akemoto sits along a North Pauahi Street sidewalk at night next to the signs by Chinatown Watch that declare, "No Sitting or Lying on Sidwalk - No Drugs or Acohol No Shopping Carts Enforced by Police."
7/21
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM

Pallets and cardboard homes on River Street crowd the sidewalk.
8/21
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM

A man sleeps on a makeshift bed on the corner of Kekaulike Mall in Chinatown.
9/21
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM

Lt. Gov. Josh Green offers a pair of slippers to a homeless woman after her shoes got stolen the previous night.
10/21
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM

A sleeping man's legs stick out onto the Chinatown sidewalk.
11/21
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM

A group of business people and elderly residents walk through Chinatown every Thursday. The Chinatown Citizens Patrol walk past a tent along Beretania Street.
12/21
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM

Chinatown vegetable owner Moises Almasco, left, Downtown-Chinatown Neihgborhood Board No. 13 chair Chu Lan Shubert-Kwock, middle, and Kekaulike Market manager Eric Wong, discusses challenges of business owners versus homeless in the Chinatown area.
13/21
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM

Eric Wong, the property manager of Kekaulike Market, walks past a a man lying in front of a King Street business.
14/21
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM

Chu Lan Shubert-Kwock, right, Chair of the Downtown-Chinatown Neighborhood Board No. 13, patrols Chinatown with the Chinatown Citizens Patrol.
15/21
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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM

Homeless people and low-income residents line up outside of the River of Life Mission for breakfast at 8 a.m.
16/21
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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM

Homeless people and low-income residents line up outside of the River of Life Mission for breakfast at 8 a.m. "Chief" Robert Cravens, Don Burnett and Andrew Pinkard wait to enter the mission for breakfast.
17/21
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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM

Oren Schleimen and his wife Fran Butera own a building in Chinatown. They are often frustrated by the homeless people who trespass, destroy and leave rubbish at their property. They made warning signs to offer to other frustrated business owners and residents.
18/21
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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM

Honolulu Police Department Capt. Mike Lambert, left, and Sgt. Joseph O'Neal walk around Chinatown and discuss the issue of Chinatown homeless. They are standing on a clear, unobstructed sidewalk on the Diamond Head side of River Street, where the "sit-lie" law is in effect. The law does not apply to the ewa side and the sidewalk, so a homeless community camps out on the sidewalk.
19/21
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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM

The city operates a Joint Outreach Center in Chinatown that involves Honolulu police and volunteer medical students from the University of Hawaii. A woman wanders around Chinatown.
20/21
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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM

The city operates a Joint Outreach Center in Chinatown that involves Honolulu police and volunteer medical students from the University of Hawaii. A man sleeps on the sidewalk along Hotel Street.
21/21
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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM

The city operates a Joint Outreach Center in Chinatown that involves Honolulu police and volunteer medical students from the University of Hawaii. Evansville Luad, 33, and Anthony Sevache, 28, receive some bandages and hygiene kits from volunteer University of Hawaii medical students Zach Tom, middle, and Kaily Kuikahi. Luad and Sevache slept overnight on the sidewalk along the ewa side of River Street, where the "sit-lie" law ends.
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