Posted on: Tuesday, October 21, 2003

EDITORIAL
At least someone is tackling homelessness

The homeless problem on O'ahu demands practical solutions. And so it is heartening to hear that a Wai'anae grass roots coalition has come up with a plan to build a tent city to house the homeless on the Leeward Coast.

The Wai'anae Community Area of Responsibility, a group of residents, service providers and homeless people, spent nearly a year hammering out a plan for "Camp Hope."

Understandably, many Wai'anae residents worry that the tent city will become a magnet for homeless people around the island. They are fed up with the Leeward Coast being a dumping ground for all the island's problems.

But with all due respect, much of the Wai'anae Coast already is a tent city, albeit a fragmented one. An estimated 20 percent of O'ahu's homeless live in Wai'anae. Drive to the end of Farrington Highway, and you can't miss the makeshift shacks and accompanying debris under the trees along the beaches and parks.

Camp Hope would be between Wai'anae Boat Harbor and Wai'anae High School, invisible to the highway and the area's homes. It would be limited to some 35 families and would be "100 percent clean and sober," turning away the mentally ill and those with drug or alcohol problems.

Yet at a meeting to introduce the plan, it became clear that there are many assumptions about who the homeless are and what they do: "We're not all drug dealers," said Margaret Akau. "We're not bad."

As the homeless become more visible on O'ahu's streets, parks, beaches and under freeway bridges, it would behoove us all to examine our prejudices about the homeless and to picture how we'd feel if that person were a friend or relative.

And in light of that, we commend the Wai'anae Community Area of Responsibility for sincerely grappling with this problem. We recognize the fears and concerns of nearby residents. But instead of shooting the idea down, let's work on making it more agreeable.