By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Airport officials say they have trimmed the homeless population
at Honolulu Airport by more than half since last summer, but Zena
is still there, seen by tourists and residents but treated as if she's
invisible. One person said she sees Zena around the
same location every day.

The homeless numbers have been
cut, but some are there,
though unseen

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

There are fewer homeless people at the airport, and you don't see many sleeping there at night -- but they're there.

And the state can't do anything about it.

State transportation officials say that with the help of local service providers, they have been able to trim the homeless population at Honolulu Airport by more than half since last summer.

But the homeless continue to use airport bathrooms to bathe and wash clothes, and some still return at night to sleep. And airport officials are powerless to do anything about it.

Before new rules were put into effect July 15, 1998, the Department of Transportation reported that more than three dozen people slept at the airport at night.

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Princess, regarded as a longtime airport resident,
sleeps on a bus-stop bench.

But after ticket lobbies and baggage claim areas are closed and roped off at night, "only 10 to 15 people" continue to try to sleep at the airport, said Jerry Matsuda, Honolulu Airport administrator.

"They are in areas such as the garden courts, which can't be seen by the general public," said Matsuda. "They are away from the main movement of traffic."

Matsuda said service providers from four organizations interviewed the homeless and were able to find them accommodations.

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Travelers pass sleeping homeless people regularly at Honolulu
Airport. Officials say 10 to 15 homeless continue to try to sleep
at the airport each night.

But others resist any overtures and continue to return to the airport at night.

"We can't do anything about them," said Matsuda. "The courts have ruled that we can't do anything because they haven't broken any laws."

Matsuda said the next step contemplated by airport officials is to close off city bus stops after the last city run of the day.

"You see a lot of them sleeping on the benches for the buses," Matsuda said. "That is where they are now congregating."

Frank Chong, executive director of the Waikiki Health Center, said two or three nurses, mental health workers and outreach workers make weekly trips to the airport.

"I have a lot of respect for the folks (at the airport) because they wanted to do the right thing," Chong said.

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Zena looks through a trash bin as two tourists walk by headed
toward the Aloha Airlines departure gates. Zena is regarded as
a gentle person who keeps to herself.

He estimated that at one time the homeless population there may have been as high as 100.

But after workers from his Waikiki Health Center, Safe Haven, the Institute for Human Services and and the Kalihi Palama Center began visiting the airport, the numbers dropped to as low as a dozen.

He said that at night, the IHS would bring vans to the airport to take them to its Iwilei shelter.

Chong believes that the half-dozen or so homeless people who still spend the night at the airport do so because they are so mentally impaired they don't know where to turn for help.

Many of the homeless seem to spend the day under the viaduct near the Keehi Lagoon Disabled Veterans Park, returning to the airport at night to sleep.

For safety reasons, airport officials drafted rules forbidding the homeless to sleep in hallways or gate areas, impeding foot traffic.

The state Supreme Court struck down Hawaii's loitering law, and the Legislature's attempts to rewrite it have been unsuccessful.

The only areas now open to the public and the homeless at night are gates and corridors used by late-arriving or departing flights.

Airport officials have cleared areas of the benches and chairs that the homeless had been using as beds.