Paradise Lost

Honolulu now faces a problem with homelessness. about 100 tents are set up in the downtown area and are occupied by homeless families. Hawaii government is now kicking them out and forcing them to find a new place to live. However, this method does not solve the problem. In a N.Y. Times article, Doran J. Porter explains the problem:

And Mr. Porter said he knew full well that state officials were under pressure from the business community. “My concern is that they need to have solutions of where these folks are going to go,” he said. “We can’t keep kicking them out of one place where they go to another. That’s why they are there in the first place: they were kicked out of Waikiki and the beaches. This has been going on for years.”

Kciking the homeless out of Honolulu will only force them to set up there tents somewhere else. Instead of taking this ineffective approach, the government needs to implement effective programs that will successfully accomodate the homeless. The newly elected governer has already hired a homeless coordinator, and important step in the fight agaisnt homelessness. Only after the government makes choices that will permanently end this problem rather than ignore it can the issue truly be remedied.