Is Being Homeless in Hawaii All Fun in the Sun?

by Josie Raymond · 2010-05-12 16:00:00 UTC
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Here's a paradox for you: Hawaii might be the worst state for renters but the best place to be homeless. Of course, there's no good place to be homeless, but factoring in anti-homeless laws and unforgiving climates, some places are definitely better than others.

Despite a recent ban on tents and tent-like structures in Honolulu's parks, the Aloha State has a lot to offer homeless populations. People — particularly single white men — seem to have caught on; shelter operators in Hawaii report that many of their clients come from "the mainland."

For $3 per day, residents at a shelter a mile from the beach in Honolulu get a place to sleep, three meals a day and access to the state's vaunted health care system. (Unfortunately, an NPR article about the shelter is peeved that residents get "chopped beef steak with vegetables, mashed potatoes, bread, a fresh apple and cake" — you know, a complete meal. It also assumes that no one would have a problem paying $90 a month.)

It's a good thing the state takes these measures, though, since high rents in the state make it hard for low-income individuals on the precipice of homeless to stay housed or people in transition to find affordable housing. New data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition shows that a person would need to earn almost $31 per hour to afford fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Hawaii, more than in any other state or Washington, D.C.

One downside to this relatively non-miserable existence is the reaction of critics who say they hope to crack down on the people who are "homeless by choice." The monthly fee at the men's shelter is also waived for the first three months for Hawaii natives in an effort to drive away homeless tourists, like 53-year-old John Falatko, whose family in Illinois recently bought him a one-way ticket to Hawaii. If anyone cared to ask him, Falatko says even in Hawaii, life's no beach.

Photo credit: coconut wireless

Josie Raymond is a Change.org editor who has reported from the streets of the South Bronx, written for several magazines that folded (not her fault) and fixed thousands of typos.
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