Tina Brunner stepped off an airplane in December and breathed in the Honolulu air, far warmer than what she’d left behind in Ohio.
She had an apartment lined up and planned to help a friend launch a cleaning business, something she had experience in.聽With her 2-year-old grandson Quintein in tow, Brunner was excited to start a new life.
鈥淚t just went terribly wrong,鈥 she said.
Someone else moved into the apartment Brunner had saved up a deposit for. She moved in with her would-be business partner, but the relationship soured so she had to burn through money renting one Airbnb after another.
By New Year鈥檚 Eve, Brunner and her grandson had checked into a homeless shelter.
鈥淚t was traumatizing,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like you can just get in your car or get in public transportation and just ride to the next city or state.鈥
Two weeks later, Brunner and her grandson sat down in an airplane destined for her mother鈥檚 home back in Ohio. This time she breathed a sigh of relief.
Brunner is one of 359 people who the , the state鈥檚 largest homeless shelter organization, has helped buy one-way plane tickets home through its 3-year-old Airline Relocation Program. T丑别听 on Maui and聽 launched similar relocation programs for the homeless with grants from t丑别听.
In total, the programs have moved 491 people off Hawaii streets and into airplanes.
Now it鈥檚 time for the state to dedicate public funds for more airplane tickets, according to HLTA President and former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann.
He is backing聽聽that would allow t丑别听 and HLTA to use transient accommodations tax revenue to fund programs that address homelessness in tourist and resort areas, which could include adding money to existing relocation programs. The bill would require public funds to be matched dollar-for-dollar by the private sector.
The measure originally allocated up to $2 million in tax revenue for the tourism organizations to spend on homelessness, but it has since been amended with the dollar amount left blank for now.
State homeless coordinator Scott Morishige applauded the efforts of IHS and other nonprofits to ensure their relocation programs connect people with stable housing at their final destination and not 鈥渏ust a one-way plane ticket.鈥
But Morishige said there鈥檚 not enough 鈥渉ard data鈥 to show how effective relocation programs are at ending homelessness and worries a state-funded program would detract from other services.
After all, most of the estimated 7,220 homeless people in Hawaii are local. Morishige said only about 10 percent have lived in Hawaii a year or less.
As Brunner sat in the homeless shelter, she looked around at other homeless people from out of state.
鈥淭o know they have an opportunity to eventually go home is good,鈥 she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 still that hope because the program exists.鈥
Months Of Follow-Up
by analyzed relocation programs in 16 American cities. The investigation found 鈥an almost total lack of long-term follow-up鈥 to determine if those who had been relocated were better off at their final destination.
It’s difficult for outreach workers to track homeless people who are swept from one part of an island to another. Putting an ocean between them can make it impossible for staff at nonprofits to find their clients.
鈥淎fter you finish whatever period of follow-up, you don鈥檛 know if the person is going to become homeless on the other end. You don’t know if they鈥檒l return to Hawaii,鈥 said Morishige.
Jason Honjiyo, who runs the relocation program on Kauai, calls his clients within a few days of arriving at their new location, but he said he’s had trouble when people change their phone numbers.聽
Maud Cumming of Family Life Center on Maui said her organization is not mandated to follow up with clients, but her staff checks in with them in the first 30 days and sometimes for a few months.
At least one of the 46 people that Family Life Center helped fly to the mainland ended up homeless at their destination, Cumming said.
HB 2012 would require the Hawaii Tourism Authority and HLTA to report to the Legislature on the homeless programs funded with money from the bill.聽
The added layer of bureaucracy worries IHS spokesman Kimo Carvalho.
鈥淎t the end of the day we don鈥檛 want government to manage these programs,鈥 he said.
Short-staffed and underfunded, nonprofits that offer homeless outreach often lack the bandwidth to audit the programs they run.
“And to have to educate every new administration that comes in. Ugh, what a headache,” Carvalho said.聽
Homeless Back Home
A gave t丑别听 $100,000 to launch聽a 鈥渞eturn-to-home鈥 pilot program, but the department didn’t use the funds.
Then-Director Patricia McManaman聽 her concerns about people exploiting the program as 鈥渁n invitation to come to Hawaii and partake of homeless services here, with an expectation that they will receive a free trip home.鈥
Similar fears made Cumming of Family Life Center reluctant to accept the HLTA grant to run the relocation program. She didn鈥檛 want her organization to bankroll a vagabond鈥檚 desire to travel.
鈥淕enerally the deciding factor is, is this going to end your homelessness?鈥 Cumming said. 鈥淢ost of the requests we field, they don鈥檛 have anyone on the other end that鈥檚 going to receive them.鈥
The Maui nonprofit has only used $9,000 of the $25,000 grant it was awarded two years ago. For every person admitted to the program, it turns away nine others.
One man asking for a ticket gave the nonprofit鈥檚 staff an address he said was his son鈥檚 but was actually that of a homeless shelter.
Kauai Economic Opportunity has only used about $3,000 of the $25,000 grant it received eight months ago.
Airfare costs averaged $516 per person at IHS. Only 241 of the 359 people relocated through IHS’ Airline Relocation Program actually received money for airplane tickets. The rest found their own means of funding and IHS helped with the logistics.
Money from HLTA can only be used for airfare, but caseworkers spend hours vetting applicants and preparing people for takeoff. That includes making sure they aren’t leaving outstanding warrants or other legal issues behind.聽
IHS uses private donations to pay the employee who operates its relocation program. Family Life Center uses money from its state outreach contracts.
The relocation programs on each island almost always require participants to pay for half their airfare.
Hannemann said sharing the cost with participants staves off freeloaders and requires people to have 鈥渟kin in the game.鈥
Rep. John Mizuno, who has long championed the idea, says an expanded relocation program could save the state money by freeing up shelter space and resources.
For almost a decade the Kalihi representative said he has operated an informal return-to-home program out of his office, using private donations to help more than 30 people get to the mainland.
Mizuno turned away a homeless man trying to get to Oklahoma when he found out the man鈥檚 sister was reluctant to take him in 鈥 she agreed to let her brother stay with her, but only for one week. Mizuno worried the man would wind up homeless again.
鈥淚f we send people back to Texas or Florida and there鈥檚 no connection, we鈥檙e just sweeping down a problem to another state and it鈥檚 not right for us to do that,鈥 Mizuno said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want other states to send their homeless to us without a plan of action.鈥
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