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The Maui Planning Commission has deferred action for 60 days on a conditional use permit for Kaua’ula Transient Campground in West Maui, a project of the Ho’omoana Foundation. This two-month window gives the community a chance to learn more about an innovative model that may provide relief for Maui’s homeless population.
Last year, there was a 12 percent increase in homelessness on Maui, reflecting growth in the homeless population from 959 to 1,137. The State of Hawaii now has the highest per capita rate of homelessness in the entire nation.
However, our real problem isn’t merely homelessness. Our real problem is the inability of our government to afford solutions to homelessness.
We currently have a fiscal crisis both at the state level and at the county level, with looming unfunded pension liabilities and declining revenues. This poses a steep challenge for government solutions requiring more spending. Last month, Gov. David Ige created a government task force charged with developing new solutions for homelessness, but he offered no known funding sources. Just a few weeks earlier, the governor ordered emergency departmental spending cuts of 10 percent.
Fortunately on Maui, there is a potential solution – a solution that recognizes an emerging best practice across the nation. That practice is to allow private businesses and individuals to take the initiative to solve the problem of homelessness. Across the country this productive solution is prompting local governments to cut through red tape and regulatory burdens to enable the private sector to relieve a public burden. The proposed Kaua’ula Campground is a prototype of such a project. It helps the poor and homeless at no cost to the taxpayer. It also protects the property values of condos and homes in the area by providing a measure of relief to the problem of vagrancy by the homeless and related crime.
In Waikiki, private sector solutions are currently being developed to protect the tourist industry. Businesses are paying nongovernment services to meet the needs of the homeless in order to transition them off of hotel property and take care of their long-term permanent needs.
Whether by design or necessity, Maui property owners and businesses may end up paying for services the government has no funding for. Kaua’ula Campground is a private sector solution that taxpayers and the government should welcome.
Having visited the proposed site and reviewed the development plans, I can offer the following clarifications to a few misconceptions some may have.
Firstly, Kaua’ula Campground is not a homeless tent city. Far from it. The owner/developer is investing in a professionally landscaped, well-maintained venue with pavilions, called “pods,” where short-term residents will camp in an attractive, healing environment. Since the campsite is private property, it can be secured and managed without the legal difficulties encountered at parks, beaches and other public lands.
Secondly, Kaua’ula Campground is not just a shelter. It will be run professionally by Ho’omoana Foundation as a social services clearinghouse for health care services, mental health treatment, job placement, transfer to long-term housing and other needs. Kaua’ula Campground will allow only short-term stays, with the goal of transitioning clients into longer-term self-sufficiency.
Thirdly, Kaua’ula Campground will not be able to ignore community standards for health, safety and visual impact. The public, including neighboring developments, is protected by existing laws and the right to sue should the project violate public trust. That said, the Ho’omoana Foundation and property owner are long-term and vested members of the community with a track record of positive contributions.
This project should be viewed as a start-up experiment that can potentially be reproduced throughout the island and state. And as it succeeds, Maui will become a model of best practices for dealing with homelessness.
* Keli’i Akina, Ph.D., is president/CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, an independent think tank committed to uniting Hawaii’s people for a better economy, government and society. Visit www.grassrootinstitute.org.