Gathering Places
Gathering Places
Numerous agencies, nonprofits, ministries and government bodies struggle to solve the growing problems related to homelessness. These include -- but are not limited to -- drug or alcohol addiction, crime, prostitution, poverty cycles, unemployment, and large numbers of children needing foster care. Give Hawaii’s homeless a place
to go and a reason to hopeThe solution is not just more money, affordable housing and a new job. A quick fix will not solve the problems faced by the homeless. Many of these people need more than a roof over their heads. The lack of housing is often not the root problem. It is merely a symptom of underlying problems. Nevertheless, once a person gets bad credit, rental options decrease.
They need help with life-controlling habits that rob them of the ability to make informed decisions. Some may need counseling, education, job training and skill development, parenting classes, anger-management classes and personal mentoring. Others are mentally ill and need daily supervision with reminders to take their medication. Some are physically ill. Others need emotional and/or spiritual healing. Large numbers are broken, downtrodden people without hope. Some are newly homeless, having lost their jobs since Sept. 11.
Once a person becomes homeless it is extremely difficult to get or keep a job. Trying to hold down a job while living in the park is a bit tricky. Not too many employers are eager to have employees come to work dragging a trash bag or backpack full of clothing.
Many homeless people at River of Life Mission have a dual diagnosis. This means that 64 percent of drug addicts also suffer from a mental disorder. The same is true in the case of 55 percent of alcoholics.
Homeless people are not going to leave the island simply because they no longer have benches to rest on in Fort Street Mall. (Incidentally, after those benches were removed my wife informed me that "Project Remove the Benches" had been quite successful. There were no longer hordes of homeless in the Mall. They had all gone to Macy's.)
Unfortunately, this situation is no laughing matter. The homeless people have to go somewhere. Merchants don't want the homeless downtown. Tourists don't want them on the beaches. Parents don't want the homeless in residential areas. This is understandable. Yet homeless people are citizens with the same rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that many Americans have given their lives to protect and defend.
Surely, there must be a way we could provide a designated area for people who need a fresh start in life. Why not use those hundreds of empty buildings at Barbers Point to help with the housing situation? I know a number of units have been made available, but that's only a drop in the bucket.
Why not use the empty houses and barracks and hangars to house people? Turn the whole area into an experimental project to demonstrate aloha to the most needy of our citizens. The infrastructure is in place. Why not set up training centers there in existing facilities and offer displaced people the means to achieve a more normal lifestyle?
Perhaps island churches and social-service agencies could pool resources and help staff the training centers. Why don't we work together to provide solutions to the problems, instead of driving the homeless from one part of the island to another? In this way we could offer hope for a new life to the many homeless people on Oahu.
Bob Marchant is executive director of River of Life Mission.