13 Jul When a dream for a better life ends in homelessness
September 2019 – Earlier this year we worked with Hawaii News Now to give the public more insight on one slice of the homeless population in Hawaii. The issue is far more complex than most understand.
Mainlanders who wind up homeless in Hawaii aren’t being sent here by agencies. They got here on their own.
There is a small population of those who come to Hawaii with money, a dream for employment, opportunity and a better quality of life. These are people who are gainfully employed with skills. They just didn’t have ample resources of time and money to make the transition work. One cruise line employee, Craig Johnson, came with $4,000 to relocate to Hawaii. He ran out of money, couldn’t get a job here and found himself in need of our care and services.
You can read more about his plight by clicking here.
There is a pervasive myth that Mainlanders who are homeless are being sent here by agencies and given a one-way ticket to Hawaii. We haven’t found any basis to that. We ask everyone from the Mainland who stays in any of our eight shelters throughout Oahu how they funded their travel to Hawaii. The closest parallel to this myth is that they used unrestricted welfare or government assistance money that they were given to pay for their ticket.
At IHS, we have an airline relocation program but it’s not to shift problems to another state. Here’s how it works. If someone in our care has family and resources to return to the Mainland, we verify that there is a safety net in place for them. Then, our case management team supports these family reunions by providing counseling and airfare to make that transition home. The client must pay for half of the ticket. We’d never buy someone a ticket elsewhere and simply wish them good luck. It’s our commitment to ensure that there’s resources and family to get people back on their feet no matter where they go.
You can help friends and family be more informed by sharing this information with them. We need more friends like you to dispel myths and misconceptions.
You can support our airline relocation program and other innovative programs with a donation here: Donate Now
Gerald Darden
Posted at 13:33h, 20 OctoberI am a former guest of IHS Sumner. In regards to the return assistance program, a former employee tried to send to New Jersey where I have no support system. I refused the offer then for obvious reasons, but it is now what I am referencing in regards to my current attempt to utilize this assistance to return Savannah, GA. If this is possible, I would really like to communicate with whom may be of such assistance. Mahalo.
Ezekiel McShan
Posted at 23:09h, 07 Augustas someone who’s worked in homeless shelters and has been homeless themselves, I’m glad this article confirms my initial impression of the myth. it just doesn’t make any sense to spend more money to fly a homeless person over the three major HUBS for homeless services to reach Hawaii where the resources are minimal. logistically it doesn’t make sense. to be clear. for whatever reason it does happen. but pretending that it’s the trend or the main problem is not effective or accurate. even if the majority of the homeless in Hawaii are from the mainland there are multiple ways to reach the islands
Samuel A. Spencer
Posted at 13:25h, 10 DecemberHi, I remember living in Marin County, CA over 30 yrs. ago when I was an overnight counselor at a homeless shelter (I am now homeless myself in Richmond, VA, living in a motel half the time and sleeping in my old car half the time) while I was attending seminary. I got a call at the shelter one night from a woman living across the bridge in Richmond, CA. She wanted to be admitted to the shelter. She was outside of our service area, though, but I went ahead and set an appt. for her since she was so insistent and I cared about her plight. My boss was not very happy when she learned of this set appt. in the a.m. (I guess I apologized, though I really don’t remember)! However, I felt good about what I had done. My supervisor did not cancel the appt. The lady had no transportation so I went and picked her up and brought her to the appt. I will call her Kay. Kay came with me and was accepted into the hse. along with her two(2?) kids and not too much later they were accepted into public hsg. in Marin, one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S.! Her younger brother, meanwhile, had gone to Hawaii and was “sleepin’ on the beach” there according to Kay! He was stranded with no place to live and without any means yo! I can see how it wouldn’t be easy at all to be in such dire straits and I feel for him now as I recall him. I don’t know whatever happened to him but I do hope and pray for him, Kay, and Kay’s kids, though I know the kids are no longer kids! God bless you all in your endeavors for Hawaii’s homeless community and may you know that your efforts for “the least among us” are fully blessed by both Jesus and Buddha, as well as by the Aloha Spirit. Aloha, Sam Spencer