Deborah Smith, known on the North shore as “Lulu,” is a single mother of two teenagers who has been camping at Ha‘ena Beach Park on and off for two-and-a half years. Every Monday, Smith and her family break camp at
Deborah Smith, known on the North shore as “Lulu,” is a single mother of two teenagers who has been camping at Ha‘ena Beach Park on and off for two-and-a half years.
Every Monday, Smith and her family break camp at the North Shore county park for clean-up day, and try to find a place to stay for the night, she said. On Tuesdays, the family resets their camps again for the week.
But when county parks close to the homeless, and to all campers without the required permits starting Nov. 17, her situation on Monday nights will become seven days a week.
“I just want to be in a place where I don’t have to worry about being kicked out,” she said. “Give us a place to work for ourselves. I don’t want a hand-out. I want a hand up.”
Smith sat down with TGI during a break from her full-time job at a sandwich shop in Hanalei last week. She said that she just cannot afford the high price of rents on the North shore, the area where her children were raised. Add to the high rents the number of housing units now converted to vacation rentals, and barely a house is available for even a middle-class family on the North Shore, she said.
Michael Flores, director of public housing in the Honolulu field office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, agreed.
“It is my understanding that there is very little to rent (on Kaua‘i). It is a tight rental market,” said Flores, from his office in Honolulu.
He added that Kaua‘i has the lowest rate of using HUD vouchers in the islands, 60 percent, compared to nearly 100 percent on Maui and the Big Island. In other words, only 60 percent of those who receive federal housing assistance are able to find a place to rent to use their federal funds.
“People are out there with vouchers. They are searching but they cannot find units,” said Flores.
Smith added that her family has been on the HUD waiting list for almost two years, and that she has yet to receive funds from the federal program designed to help low-income families get assistance for rent.
And even if her family got the funds, Smith said, it would still be difficult to find a place to rent, because most landlords do not want those with HUD funds living in their properties.
“You wouldn’t have half the homeless if” landlords were educated about the HUD program, she said.
Because the mentally or physically disabled are eligible for HUD funds, many people believe that those with HUD funding are liable to cause problems in a home, she said.
But Smith said that is a myth.
“People on HUD have to behave or they lose their money,” she said.
HUD funds are distributed through the County of Kaua‘i, said Flores. The funds are to be delineated on a first-come, first-serve basis.
But what frustrates her the most about the County of Kaua‘i’s new program, Smith said, is that homelessness has been seen as one amalgamous group.
“We need to get rid of the stereotypes about homelessness.”
She says there are 3 types of homeless on Kaua‘i: the “helpless,” who are disabled or mentally unable to work; the “homeless,” who are working but can’t afford rent; and the “houseless,” who have taken to the beach as a lifestyle choice, or “beach bums.”
“They’re lumping everyone together. There’s multiple causes. There has to be a combination of solutions,” she said.
The County is “not thinking long-term at all. They’re thinking short-term. There is no place to go,” Smith added.
She added that when she received the county notice last week, that stated county authorities would be cracking down on illegal camping at the state and county parks around the island, she called every single number provided on the notice to find a place to go.
And none of the charities listed could provide anything other than monetary assistance for rent or temporary shelter in Lihu‘e, she said. The temporary shelter offered was for three days in a hotel in Lihu‘e.
“I have a job. And my kids have their friends” on the North Shore, she said.
“The list came about as a result of a discussion between all of the people that are involved in what’s going on with the illegal camping sites and try to assist those people that do need the help. They brainstormed the list,” said Cyndi Mei Ozaki, county spokeswoman. “What those organizations offer, we’re not exactly sure of.”
“I’m upset the way the mayor is handling this. (The eviction notice) made it appear that they have a plan. There’s no plan,” Smith said. Mayor Bryan Baptiste “could come up with a really good idea. He’s at the perfect opportunity.”
“Five million (dollars) for a bike path, and they don’t solve the traffic problem or the homeless problem?” she asked rhetorically, referring to the bike path proposed from Lihu‘e to Anahola. “Residents don’t have rights anymore. It’s all for the tourist industry.”
“They’ve criminalized being poor. They’ve criminalized homelessness,” she said.
Ozaki said that the mayor is currently working on a long-term plan to alleviate the homeless problem on Kaua‘i.
Smith said that she hopes to help her family, and others like hers, without county help, by starting a non-profit organization.
With land donations, she said, the non-profit would run small farming co-operatives, where currently un-used agricultural land could be used for small co-op farming.
Small dwellings or camp sites on the land could be built, although only a small number of people per acre would be allowed.
Her hope is that these co-ops would become self-sustaining, as the extra foods produced could be sold at Farmer’s markets, with all monies generated going to the Kaua‘i Food Bank. Some people could work outside in the community, while others could do the farming.
Smith said she is presently working on a model.
“We need social responsibility. If this was done Hawaiian style, working within a community” homelessness would not be a problem, she said.
Staff writer Tom Finnegan can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226)
