The September 11th attack
Support agencies offer ideas to help jobless
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Social service officials yesterday offered legislators ideas to address the huge glut of the suddenly unemployed — from the easing of laws against homeless people in parks and on beaches, to temporary free bus passes for people kicked off welfare, to using empty hotel rooms for needy families.
Many of the ideas, when added up, would cost the state millions of dollars:
• Increasing the state rent stipend program for first-month's rent or security deposits.
• $350,000 to $400,000 to help the Hawai'i Foodbank, which hasn't had rice for a month and is running low on meat.
• $800,000 for an anticipated 800 more people seeking help with substance abuse problems.
• Using construction money to renovate dilapidated and unusable public housing.
A roomful of social service officials offered ideas, but also outlined a grim situation since the Sept. 11 East Coast terror attacks, which will only get worse in the next few months.
Hundreds of families are living in beaches, cars and parks, they said, 90 to 100 at Ala Moana Beach Park alone. Homeless shelters are full, and families are lining up daily to get in. The Hawai'i Foodbank has gone from distributing 25,000 pounds of food a day to 32,000 pounds and continues to run low on supplies.
Dozens of unemployed and homeless people have moved from the Neighbor Islands to O'ahu, particularly along the already hard-hit Wai'anae Coast.
Also, within the next few months, a total of 12,000 to 14,000 people could lose their health coverage.
One group of welfare recipients is scheduled to be cut off next month; another after the first of the year.
"The result will be a flood of homeless families on the streets and town and underneath freeway overpasses, trying to keep their children from being taken away," said Kathy Hasegawa of the Affordable Housing & Homeless Alliance.
Earlier in the day, Aloha United Way officials announced that donations this year will fall $1.7 million short of the community's needs.
Hawai'i's struggling economy took an enormous hit after the Sept. 11 terror attacks temporarily cut off air traffic to the Islands, slowed the flow of tourists and, so far, has resulted in 15,000 unemployment claims, mostly from workers in the airline and tourism industries.
In the worst-case scenario, Hawai'i could see a 30 percent decline in the number of tourists between September and December, said Seiji Naya, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
The state would lose $1 billion in income and 25,000 jobs. The result would nearly double the normal unemployment rate to 8 percent.
"It would be just about the highest in post-war history," Naya said.
Amid all of the dreary news yesterday were a few signs of hope.
A bill going before the upcoming special legislative session would provide temporary medical care for unemployed people.
"It would cover immigrants, it would cover literally anyone who becomes unemployed," said Susan Chandler, director of the state Department of Human Services.
Forty-four family housing units and 77 more for the mentally ill are scheduled to be available soon at Kalaeloa, formerly Barbers Point Naval Air Station.
And companies are calling the Foodbank daily to offer to hold food drives. But even their combined efforts won't be enough, said Foodbank director Dick Grimm.
"What happened Sept. 11 has certainly caused serious hardship," Naya said. "I cannot recall anything worse than this."
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
