Homelessness In The United States

Homelessness is major concern is today’s society and homelessness in the United States is only growing exponentially. Homelessness has been a public health issue for many decades. Often times these individuals feel as though society has turned a blind eye to them. In a nation as prosperous as ours all citizens should be taken accounted for. Many people view homeless as lazy people looking for handouts, people that choose live a life on the streets, or sometimes even invisible. But if one would examine the homeless population closely they would see that there is more much more to their individual stories than how society views and labels them. In the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States one of the goals is to promote the general

welfare. In the United States and in Hawai’i the problem of homelessness has a great deal of significance.
Thinking that homelessness can be solved by a one size fits all solution is a flawed way to look at the issue. The are an abundance of different causes and situations for each and every homeless individual. Society affects homelessness by means of family breakdown, addictions, and mental illnesses. Society’s structure affects homeless by means of a lack of low-cost housing, inadequate health services, and substandard economic conditions. Contingent on their circumstances homeless people may or may not be sold on the help or aid that is at their disposal. We should not loose track of the individuals that remain labeled under the broad description of being homeless and find solutions that accommodate everyone’s needs. Everyone needs a home or some form of a home but with the housing prices where they currently are it is nearly impossible for some homeless to get off of the streets. To end homelessness there needs to be a smaller gap if any at all between the minimum wage rate and the cost to rent a suitable place to live in.
Here in beautiful Hawai’i Nei in we are faced with our own Homeless problem. In a 2013 article published in Business Insider, Journalist Robert Johnson takes a look at the locations that the homeless population live and show some very compelling photos showing how the homeless population in Hawaii lives. Hawaii had the 4th highest rental costs in the country. At the time more than 7,500 people live on Oahu’s streets and beaches, and a large number of them were native Hawaiians. The article also reveals that the Native Hawaiian homeless communities in Hawaii are often the poorest. Waianae has one of the largest native homeless communities in the entire state (Johnson).
The homeless problem seems to just be getting worse and growing. According to Governor Ige’s spokeswoman Cindy McMillan citing a 2015 statewide count, Hawai’i has an estimated homeless population of 7,620. With this very significant homelessness crisis Governor David Ige extended the Emergency Homelessness Declaration to February 26, 2016 as it was set to expire the day after Christmas in 2015. The Emergency Homelessness Declaration is supposed to be helping the city and county of Honolulu fund up to six long-term housing projects designed for homeless citizens in Hawai’i (Press). The emergency proclamation allows spending of over $1.3 million to fund homeless services and help set up permanent homes for families and the chronically homeless. They will then try to include building a transitional housing facility for homeless families (Botelho).
Green Doors is an organization helping to fight homelessness and their mission is to prevent and help end homelessness and poverty housing for those working to achieve independent living in central Texas. According to Green Doors’ statistics on any given night there are approximately 643,067 people experiencing homelessness throughout the United States. Out of 643,067 homeless people in the United States Hawai’i only has a fractional 7,620 homeless. This may not seem like much but with a homeless rate of approximately 465 homeless per 100,000 Hawai’i has the highest rate of homelessness per capita in the United States.
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) homelessness can be defined in four broad categories: People who are living in a place not meant for human habitation, in emergency shelter, in transitional housing, or are exiting an institution where they temporarily resided. People who are losing their primary nighttime residence, which may include a motel or hotel or a doubled-up situation, within 14 days and lack resources or support networks to remain in housing. Families with children or unaccompanied youth who are unstably housed and likely to continue in that state. People who are fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, have no other residence, and lack the resources or support networks to obtain other permanent housing.
A “chronically homeless” person is defined as “an unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more, or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.” Although chronic homelessness represents a small share of the overall homeless population (approximately 123,790 chronically homeless individuals nationwide on any given night), chronically homeless people use up a significantly disproportionate share of the services.

Many chronically homeless people have a serious mental illness like schizophrenia and/or an alcohol or drug

addiction.
Many of the causes for homelessness are like a slippery slope. Something as simple as losing your job or having a heart attack could land someone on the street unable to pay their rent or mortgage. Experts fear that since Hawaii has some of the highest rents in the nation and how certain wages and employment benefits have not been balanced with inflation that more families will be losing their homes in the future. This will lead to residents not buying homes when it is a good time to buy and policymakers will not assist with sufficient housing construction. The result of all of this is that homelessness has now become one of Hawaii’s most pressing social issues (Hoover).
In Hawaii children make up 23.5-39% of the homeless, 37% of the homeless are of Native Hawaiian ethnicity, and 17-42% of Hawaii's homeless are employed full-time (Omori). As crazy as it may sound working a full time job does not necessarily mean that you will not be homeless. A full time time job is considered working 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average employee works roughly 34.5 hours per week. The National Low Income Housing Coalition is a membership-based nonprofit research and advocacy organization that advocates for affordable housing for low income households. The Coalition is most notable for its annual publication Out of Reach which looks at minimum wage and the rent for two-bedroom apartments in every county in the United States.
In the 2015 publication of Out Reach, the National Low Income Housing Coalition found that “In Hawaii, the Fair Market Rent (FMR for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,644. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities– without paying more than 30% of income on housing –a household must earn $5,479 monthly or $65,746 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into an hourly Housing Wage of $31.61 per hour.” Hawaii is ranked 1st among all states with the largest gap between two bedroom housing wage and renter wage. With a minimum wage slightly higher than the national average at $7.75 it is nearly impossible to afford an apartment at FMR. In order to afford a 2-bedroom unit at FRM you would need to work 163 hours per week at minimum wage or you would need to work 4.1 full-time jobs (Bolton).
In Hawaii the homeless problem has shifted in recent years from being a problem in rural areas on the west coast of the island to become a major problem in urban areas throughout the greater Kaka’ako region.

Today if you drive down to Kaka’ako you can see why it now has its reputation for homelessness. In midst of Governor Ige’s Emergency Homeless Declaration more construction and development has begun in Kaka’ako. On February 12, 2016, work on a third Ward Village high rise set to begin. Ward Village is located in Kaka’ako right off of Ala Moana boulevard. In a two-mile stretch from Kaka’ako Waterfront Park to Ala Moana Shopping Center, there have been countless new multi-million dollar developments. Park Lane Ala Moana being finished in late 2017 is a new luxury condominium being built on the Makai side of Ala Moana Center. Prices for a one-bedroom unit start at $1.19 million and go up to $28 million for a five-bedroom penthouse (Lee). Ae’o, a condominium being built in Ward Village has a $1-million-dollar price tag for an average

unit.
Although this area for new urban development seems to be thriving, it encompasses one of the largest homeless populations in the state (Gomes “Work on”). Kaka’ako has been in the news a lot as of recently for their new plans to transform nine city blocks in the heart of Kaka’ako owned by Kamehameha Schools. “Our Kaka’ako” is the master plan for the section of Kaka’ako with up to seven new residential towers (Gomes “Lack of”). According to Our Kaka’ako’s website “Our Kaka’ako will continue to evolve over time as redevelopment continues to renew the community” (Our Kaka’ako). I do not see how they can continue to develop this area without taking care of real issues first. Instead of trying to profit and build multi-million dollar condominiums, they should focus on the real problem at hand with the infamous homeless population that stretches from Ala Moana Beach Park to Kaka’ako Waterfront Park.
It is actually easier than it looks to become homeless on the streets of Kaka’ako. A survey conducted by QMark Research for the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, was aimed at highlighting how Hawaii’s high cost of living is affecting residents in daily ways. Nicole Woo, senior policy analyst for Appleseed, said the survey shows that just one unexpected expense could land a family in dire financial straits. According to the telephone poll, 1 in 5 Hawaii respondents said a medical crisis could be financially devastating. The same number said theyve worried about how to cover rent. And almost all of those surveyed, 95 percent, said the high cost of housing was a major problem in Hawaii. Nine in 10 people said low wages were a major concern here in Hawai’i. In addition to Hawai’i’s high cost of living and relatively low wages, compared to the rest of the nation, “Hawaii is also the second worst state in the nation in taxing our poor residents,” Woo said. While Woo says there's no quick fix to the problems, Appleseed is looking to get residents relief at the Legislature. A bill that would provide low-income renters with a tax credit passed the Senate. “There must be ways with maybe a combination of government tax credits that they could actually make a profit off of affordable housing,” Woo said.