We reside in the Kamehameha Heights area, where there are numerous halfway houses/care homes. There are several men living in one facility nearby whose actions are such that we are now reluctant to even go into our yard. In particular, one male, who appears mentally handicapped, sits on the porch, day and night, calling out and harassing us. We feel victimized and are beginning to fear for our safety. Do you know which government agency oversees these facilities? Neighbors express fear
over adult foster homeThe "developmental disability adult foster home" you cite is certified and monitored by the state Department of Health's Developmental Disabilities Agency, said administrator Stanley Yee.
It is one of more than 200 such facilities statewide, most on Oahu.
As a foster home, the operator (who is also the homeowner) is supposed to have only two tenants. The other men residing there are "independent renters," Yee said.
Based on your complaint, "We are sending licensing people out there to review and work out some plans for more supervision," he said. A social worker who works with these clients also will be asked to get involved.
The issue of the other renters, which does not come under the Health Department's jurisdiction, should be resolved soon, Yee said. The operator is building a new structure on the property, with plans to operate a "developmental disabilities domiciliary facility."
"Upon approval of that licensure, we will say she cannot take care of more than five people, which should resolve the situation on the rooms for rent," Yee said. "That will come under our control at that point."
Yee's agency is charged with certifying facilities for people with developmental disabilities and mental retardation. It also makes placements and has case managers -- primarily social workers and some nurses -- who monitor the people "in their living situations as well as other programs they may attend in the community," Yee said.
"We're here to make sure that their adjustment is going well and that they're being treated well."
Having such facilities is part of the move to down-size government services, as well as "part of a national movement to have people go back to communities, rather than being isolated and segregated," Yee said.
"It's a movement that's happening in mental health, as well as developmental disabilities."
(The Health Department also licenses care homes through its Hospital and Medical Facilities Branch, at 586-4080.)
There are people from a bakery downtown who keep feeding crumbs to birds early every morning. It's unsanitary to have so many birds flying around, leaving their droppings all over. Can someone do something about this? State Department of Health vector control inspector Reid Himuro did not find any significant problem, either in the numbers of pigeons roosting nearby or in the amount of droppings at the site you specified.
But he did talk to the bakery owner, who said he would ask his staff not to feed the pigeons.
While inspectors can't stop people from feeding birds, it can take action against property owners if droppings -- from birds, dogs or other animals -- are not picked up daily, becoming unsanitary.
"If worse comes to worse, we will fine them," Himuro said. The maximum fine is $1,000 a day.
And it's not just commercial property owners at risk. Homeowners don't own the area between their property and the street. But if a dog poops on the sidewalk or grassy area fronting their home and the dog owner isn't responsible enough to clean up, responsibility for clean up ultimately rests with the homeowner, Himuro said.
"In the worst-case scenario, the owners would be fined. So sometimes, when people complain, it backfires on them," he said.
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