Don’t Like The Homeless In Our Backyards? Then Fix The Problem
The concerns of Chinatown business owners are understandable, but we can’t keep forcing our homeless citizens elsewhere.
We don鈥檛 envy Chinatown鈥檚 business owners.
When it comes to facing the unsavory realities of Honolulu鈥檚 homelessness epidemic, that area鈥檚 storefronts are on the front lines. Business owners have seen it all 鈥 loitering, mental illness and聽even defecation聽鈥斅爋n the sidewalks in front of their stores. No matter how compassionate or empathetic they want to be, they know one thing for sure: It鈥檚 not good for business.
This is a tough situation — one that pits practical business needs against basic compassion for people in need. As Civil Beat鈥檚 Natanya Friedheim and Noelle Fujii reported last week, several business owners are currently taking out their frustration on River of Life Mission, a nonprofit that serves free meals to the needy.
River of Life serves about 15,000 meals a month, and some Chinatown business owners think the humanitarian service attracts more homeless people to the neighborhood. They also complain the lines of people waiting for meals deter potential customers. Many would like to see the mission鈥檚 effort moved elsewhere, an idea Bob Merchant, River of Life鈥檚 executive director, is open to.
While we sympathize with the business owners, we want to urge them — and those elsewhere in Honolulu, for that matter — to remember one thing: We鈥檝e tried attacking the symptoms of homelessness before and it hasn鈥檛 worked. It鈥檚 about time we started attacking the disease.
Meet the homeless where they are. Don鈥檛 make them travel or jump through hoops for services, shelter or food.
It鈥檚 been two years since Honolulu passed the sit-lie laws. Much like Chinatown鈥檚 business owners, those laws鈥 supporters wanted the homeless population out of sight and out of mind. After two years, however, it鈥檚 safe to say the very visible problem of homelessness is still at the forefront of our minds.
We鈥檝e learned that simply shuffling our homeless citizens around the island won鈥檛 make them disappear. And if any community should be sensitive to that reality, it鈥檚 Chinatown.
Chinatown, after all, is no stranger to our homeless population. As Greg Payton, executive director/CEO of Mental Health Kokua, told Civil Beat, his organization has sought a location in Chinatown for its homeless shelter since the mid-1990s聽because homeless people have always congregated there.
River of Life鈥檚 Merchant agreed.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 鈥楩ield of Dreams,鈥欌 he said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 build it and they came. They were here already.鈥
This is the fundamental reality that Chinatown — and frankly, all of Honolulu — needs to finally accept. For years now, we鈥檝e heard the same self-serving refrain from residents and business owners alike: 鈥淣ot in my backyard!鈥 We can no longer afford to accommodate the NIMBYs.
We are a small city with a big homeless population. From Waikiki to Chinatown, they are already there. And there is nowhere else for them to go.
The problem of homelessness is so intransigent, so pervasive, that any solution to it will require buy-in from all stakeholders, including business owners.
But progress starts with one basic, nationally tested principle: Meet the homeless where they are. Don鈥檛 make them travel or jump through hoops for services, shelter or food.
Honolulu, we already know, is woefully behind on its obligations to provide affordable housing and shelter space. Until we make a concerted effort to ensure that more of our citizens have a safe place to live, we shouldn鈥檛 criminalize them for being on the street, and we most definitely shouldn鈥檛 deny them easy access to food.
