{"id":1230,"date":"2013-08-03T00:22:19","date_gmt":"2013-08-03T00:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/?p=1230"},"modified":"2013-08-09T00:25:59","modified_gmt":"2013-08-09T00:25:59","slug":"hawaii-yet-another-homeless-hostile-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/hawaii-yet-another-homeless-hostile-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawaii–Yet Another Homeless Hostile State"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NOTE BY NORSE:\u00a0 Santa Cruz has signed onto its own version of this homeless-aphobic scheme, or such is the scuttlebutt.\u00a0 The Homeless (Lack of) Services Center is reportedly involved.\u00a0 It reportedly plans\u00a0 to\u00a0 use funding for a proposed ID cards and a “security gate”, but no homeless lockers, expanded shelter, or advocacy voice denouncing the anti-homeless laws.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 These NIMBY (Not-in-my-backyard) attempts to exclude and deport the homeless ramp up and justify the hysteria which has prompted increased crackdown, pressure to eliminate services, and the redefinition of “Public Safety” as “Elimination of Homeless People in Public Areas” as masterminded by Mayor “Backroom” Bryant’s Public Safety Citizen Task Farce.<\/p>\n

Hawaii Offers Homeless One-Way Tickets Out of State<\/h1>\n

The controversial tactic has been tried — and vocally criticized — elsewhere<\/p>\n

By Olivia B. Waxman<\/a> @OBWax<\/a>July 31, 201389 Comments<\/a><\/div>\n
Hawaii<\/a> will become the latest place in the U.S. to offer one-way plane tickets to homeless people, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat<\/em><\/a>. Last week, legislators voted to allocate $100,000 to fund a pilot \u201creturn to home\u201d program run by the state\u2019s Department of Human Services that will set aside seats on airplanes \u2014\u00a0and possibly cruise ships \u2014\u00a0for homeless people seeking a way to return to loved ones in other states.<\/p>\n

To qualify for the trial, participants must complete a background check, be mentally sound, and have what the bill calls \u201csufficient personal hygiene<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0The program is voluntary, and homeless individuals can only enroll in it once.<\/p>\n

Supporters say sending homeless people back to their friends and relatives will enable them to get back on their feet in a more supportive environment. It\u2019s also an effort to reduce the number of homeless people in the state, which is estimated at 17,000, the Honolulu Civil Beat<\/em> reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But critics\u00a0\u2014 who include the very people charged with running the Hawaii initiative\u00a0\u2014 argue that the program does not have nearly enough funding to solve the state\u2019s homelessness problem. Others say the offer could be easily abused. \u201cAt the end of the day, however, we remain concerned this program is an invitation to purchase a one-way ticket to Hawaii with a guaranteed return flight home,\u201d\u00a0Kayla Rosenfeld, the spokesperson for the state\u2019s Department of Human Services, said in a statement recently.\u00a0Local pols like Rep. John Mizuno told Hawaii News Now<\/em><\/a> <\/em>that just sending a \u201chandful\u201d of homeless people home for a little while would still help the state save money on food, shelter, and medical costs.<\/p>\n

New York City<\/a>, Baton Rouge and San Francisco<\/a> have all tried similar programs.\u00a0New York City implemented its version in 2007, flying more than 550 homeless people back to their families in places like Paris<\/a>, Orlando, and San Juan (the most popular destination), according to a 2009 article in\u00a0the New York Times<\/em><\/a>. Homeless advocates vehemently opposed the scheme. \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is passing the problem of homelessness to another city,\u201d Arnold S. Cohen, CEO of Partnership for the Homeless,\u00a0told the Times<\/em><\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re taking people from a shelter bed here to the living room couch of another family. Essentially, this family is still homeless.\u201d<\/p>\n

More recently, Baton Rouge\u2019s city council approved a plan in June to provide free bus rides to eligible homeless people run by the city\u2019s police department,\u00a0Think Progress<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>. (Its original name was \u201cClean Sweep,\u201d but to avoid comparing people living on the street to bags of garbage, the program has been renamed \u201cHOPE\u201d for \u201cHomeless Outreach Prevention Efforts,\u201d\u00a0according to the Advocate<\/em><\/a>.) But local advocates for the homeless have expressed concern that busy officers won\u2019t have time to follow-up with participants and check their progress.<\/p>\n

To avoid similar problems in Hawaii, Mizuno has said<\/a> he would consider shifting control of the \u201creturn-to-home\u201d program to non-profits that have experience working with the homeless. Until then, state officials promise to follow-up with participants a month after they move to make sure they\u2019re doing well in their new homes.<\/div>\n

LINKS AND COMMENTS AT : http:\/\/newsfeed.time.com\/2013\/07\/31\/hawaii-offers-homeless-one-way-tickets-out-of-state\/#ixzz2aveGLTBJ<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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NOTE BY NORSE:\u00a0 Santa Cruz has signed onto its own version of this homeless-aphobic scheme, or such is the scuttlebutt.\u00a0 The Homeless (Lack of) Services Center is reportedly involved.\u00a0 It reportedly plans\u00a0 to\u00a0 use<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58],"tags":[3,82],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1231,"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230\/revisions\/1231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}