To: The Hawaii State House, The Hawaii State Senate, and Governor David Ige
Protect the Houseless from Unconstitutional Selective Enforcement of Criminalization Ordinances
There are four bills at the Hawaii Legislature seeking to protect Hawaii's peaceful but struggling Houseless population from abusive selective enforcement of new laws targeting this vulnerable population.
The Houseless are under an unconstitutional attack with so-called "enforcements" on vagrancy which lead to the confiscation of all their property without any remedy for retrieving their belongings. The Houseless are threatened with arrest if they interfere after they are forcibly removed from their belongings. It has also been recorded that City Officials have not been giving them instructions or receipts to retrieve belongings, which is required by law. In fact, the property is destroyed and disposed of on-site.
IDs, social security cards, medication for serious conditions, and irreplaceable family heirlooms have been taken and thrown in the trash. Even ambulatory aids have been taken from houseless seniors, disabling them from movement. And, without proper ID, houseless persons cannot obtain jobs, housing, welfare benefits, or even apply for the much-needed Housing First Program.
Your support of the following bills is absolutely essential in stopping these injustices against the poor and possibly preventing a lawsuit against the City and State.
We kindly urge you to see the scheduling and passage of the following measures:
SB269 RELATING TO PUBLIC ORDER
SB270 RELATING TO HOMELESSNESS
SB273 RELATING TO IDENTIFICATION CARDS
SB1014 RELATING TO THE HOUSLESS BILL OF RIGHTS
I thank you for your time and effort in protecting Hawaii's most vulnerable and fastest-growing population in need.
The Houseless are under an unconstitutional attack with so-called "enforcements" on vagrancy which lead to the confiscation of all their property without any remedy for retrieving their belongings. The Houseless are threatened with arrest if they interfere after they are forcibly removed from their belongings. It has also been recorded that City Officials have not been giving them instructions or receipts to retrieve belongings, which is required by law. In fact, the property is destroyed and disposed of on-site.
IDs, social security cards, medication for serious conditions, and irreplaceable family heirlooms have been taken and thrown in the trash. Even ambulatory aids have been taken from houseless seniors, disabling them from movement. And, without proper ID, houseless persons cannot obtain jobs, housing, welfare benefits, or even apply for the much-needed Housing First Program.
Your support of the following bills is absolutely essential in stopping these injustices against the poor and possibly preventing a lawsuit against the City and State.
We kindly urge you to see the scheduling and passage of the following measures:
SB269 RELATING TO PUBLIC ORDER
SB270 RELATING TO HOMELESSNESS
SB273 RELATING TO IDENTIFICATION CARDS
SB1014 RELATING TO THE HOUSLESS BILL OF RIGHTS
I thank you for your time and effort in protecting Hawaii's most vulnerable and fastest-growing population in need.
Why is this important?
LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!
As the executive director of the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, I have become incredibly concerned with the City's "Compassionate Disruption" campaign against houseless families with children in Honolulu. The vast majority of houseless in Hawaii are local families with young children-- 'ohana struggling to make ends meet.
I have seen young children, adults, and kupuna whose rights are violated every time a so-called "city enforcement" of the poor executes the unconstitutional confiscation and disposal of all property belonging to the houseless who are relegated to living on certain sidewalks in a dwindling number of districts. Most all other public spaces are not legal for the houseless to rest.
This is the epitome of injustice and it must end. There are currently nearly 400 houseless families with children and other houseless individuals living in the Kakaako area alone. They cannot fit into shelter, they would max out the capacity for the proposed sand island encampment, and public housing is not an option with its 10-year waiting list.
Compassionate Disruption, Sit-Lie, and other City Ordinances selectively enforced upon the houseless neither work nor are they just. Please support the measures seeking to protect the Houseless in Hawaii so that we may work with this population to get them out of poverty with true compassion.
SB269 RELATING TO PUBLIC ORDER
SB270 RELATING TO HOMELESSNESS
SB273 RELATING TO IDENTIFICATION CARDS
SB1014 RELATING TO THE HOUSLESS BILL OF RIGHTS
SIGN THIS PETITION AND SHARE TODAY!
As the executive director of the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, I have become incredibly concerned with the City's "Compassionate Disruption" campaign against houseless families with children in Honolulu. The vast majority of houseless in Hawaii are local families with young children-- 'ohana struggling to make ends meet.
I have seen young children, adults, and kupuna whose rights are violated every time a so-called "city enforcement" of the poor executes the unconstitutional confiscation and disposal of all property belonging to the houseless who are relegated to living on certain sidewalks in a dwindling number of districts. Most all other public spaces are not legal for the houseless to rest.
This is the epitome of injustice and it must end. There are currently nearly 400 houseless families with children and other houseless individuals living in the Kakaako area alone. They cannot fit into shelter, they would max out the capacity for the proposed sand island encampment, and public housing is not an option with its 10-year waiting list.
Compassionate Disruption, Sit-Lie, and other City Ordinances selectively enforced upon the houseless neither work nor are they just. Please support the measures seeking to protect the Houseless in Hawaii so that we may work with this population to get them out of poverty with true compassion.
SB269 RELATING TO PUBLIC ORDER
SB270 RELATING TO HOMELESSNESS
SB273 RELATING TO IDENTIFICATION CARDS
SB1014 RELATING TO THE HOUSLESS BILL OF RIGHTS
SIGN THIS PETITION AND SHARE TODAY!