Oʻahu’s pipeline to homelessness: Roots of the crisis, what’s driving it

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The homeless. It’s easy to demonize this marginalized group of people. After all, they have made all the wrong choices to get where they are today, right?

Well, that isn’t exactly right. Homelessness is caused by a multitude of factors. Race, age, disability status, veteran status are just a few that contribute to a person being able to participate in the capitalist system.

But what’s most shocking about the homeless on Oʻahu is that some are working full time jobs or multiple jobs and continue to be unable to afford safe, reliable, stable housing.

Of course, there are those who are homeless because they have addictions; but again, these people need help rather than derision.

As it stands, according to the 2023 Point in Time Count (PITC), this is how homelessness is playing out amongst our population on Oʻahu:

• 59% of Oʻahu’s homeless are completely unsheltered.
• 41% of Oʻahu’s homeless are utilizing emergency shelters, transitional housing or vet safe havens.
• 54% of surveyed adults and UMs were chronically homeless individuals.
• 26% of all chronically homeless households.
• 10% of surveyed adults were veterans.
• 52 was the average age of surveyed adults.
• Most common self-reported primary causes of homelessness by surveyed adults and UMs were inability to pay rent and loss of jobs.
• 28% of the homeless population identified as Native Hawaiian.
• 62% reported at least one disabling condition. This means that housing alone cannot solve the problem. Medical care, behavioral health needs and emerging cognitive impairments must be addressed.
• 57% are men or boys.
• 35% are women or girls.
• 7% of the individuals counted were of unknown gender due to a high number of observations.
• There are 559 keiki under the age of 17 who are homeless or experiencing unstable housing situations.
• 22% of homeless persons are family units.

To talk more about those homeless persons who continue to toil day in and day out at jobs but who cannot afford to attain stable housing, KHON2.com caught up with Laura Thielen. She is the Executive Director for Partners in Care, one of the agencies that oversees Oʻahu’s Point in Time Count.

Thielen said that in Hawaiʻi, we have a huge number of residents that are living on the edge.

“If they lose one paycheck or they miss one rental payment, they may find themselves out on the streets,” explained Thielen. “So, making sure that when we meet individuals that first and foremost, if they’ve just come out of housing, rapidly rehousing them will decrease the ailments that they have and the trouble that they have because they’ve only been homeless for a short amount of time.”

She explained that as soon as someone starts gaining time on the streets, it becomes more and more difficult for them to get back into housing.

“The biggest issues for families, especially, is that it’s difficult to work when you have young children,” said Thielen. “So, usually, if you are a nuclear family with two heads of household, usually one person can work.”

With programs like Family Promise of Hawaiʻi, agencies are working hard to focus on making sure that families who come to them will be self-sustaining in a short amount of time. This means making sure their skills are up to par in whatever industry they’re working in or changing what they’re working in so that they can actually secure long-term employment.

“We’ve got a lot of people that work service industry positions; and if there’s a protest or a strike or the company shuts down, that’s a whole lot of people that all of a sudden are looking at within a couple of months falling into homelessness,” explained Thielen. “It’s amazing to me how many people actually work during homelessness and many times their companies, the people they work with, don’t even know that they’re experiencing homelessness. It’s really heartbreaking.”

It’s also exhausting for them.

“When you’re out on the streets, you’re losing sleep; no matter what you think it’s not restful sleep,” explained Thielen. “You’re sleeping in survival mode, and you’re making sure that your family is safe. So, people’s ability to work really decreases as their homelessness increases.”

Thielen said that the Work Hawaiʻi and Rent to Work programs are attempting to make sure that people are able to locate both a job and a place to live.

“Those are absolutely wonderful, and they really encourage people to live to their full potential,” said Thielen. “Work is such a big part of life along with schooling for the young children and assistance to the caregivers. I think, as a country, we need to work a little bit more on making sure that our caretakers, whether they’re part of the family or part of the boarding home or care home establishments, are taken care of.”

She went on to explain these agencies are working to help people understand how to get back into jobs and get them prepared for what comes next after homelessness is done for them as they move back into housing.

“Today, there is still a huge stigma associated with people who are experiencing homelessness,” said Thielen. “There’s a lot of shame in it. especially with families where the head of household is not able to support the family. There’s a lot of stigma and discrimination against folks who are trying to make it work. So, we understand that if you’re homeless, if you’re experiencing homelessness and you’re not getting to work on time or your kids are sick and things like that, if you’re housed, it’s a lot easier to deal with than when you’re unhoused. All of those issues become the most important issue.

— Laura Thielen, ED Partners in Care

Oʻahu’s pipeline to homelessness was somewhat disrupted by COVID mandates explained Thielen. She said that the moratoriums placed on landlords not being able to evict those unable to pay rent due to loss of work during the pandemic saved a lot of families from being kicked out onto the streets.

“A lot of our clients were those people who were on the edge,” said Thielen. “After COVID kind of quieted down, they were evicted. So, we really work with clients and say and help them to find a working solution with the landlord who may be willing to make exceptions for certain situations. The communication is key and being honest about situations that are going on could lead to less homelessness for people and more stability in the future.”

Ensuring that landlords are part of the plan, that these persons are being taught how to communicate with their landlords and that they know how to share information, but not too much information, are necessary skills in today’s economic landscape.

Thielen provided a great deal of insights in our interview; so, be sure to check out the full interview in the video above.

You can click here to access to the 2023 Point in Time Count data.

So, what are we going to do, besides imprisoning people, to help alleviate our growing homeless crisis in Hawaiʻi?