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Hawaii Sets Aside $100,000 to Offer its 17,000 Homeless People One-Way Airfare Back to Their Home States (+video)

July 31, 2013/4 Comments/in Featured, The Offbeat /by Chris Tanaka

Photo Credit: hawaii news now“This is not a silver bullet, this does not solve everything” Representative John Mizuno is quick to point out the limitations of the “Return to Home” program, and he’s one of its staunchest supporters.

Mizuno helped get the program passed as part of Senate Bill 515.

“It’s fractional, it’s not for 5,000 homeless people. It’s going to be a handful of homeless people that we send home, again–home to their support unit” added Mizuno.

The program, which is set to launch this fiscal year, is a three-year pilot program in which $100,000 is appropriated each year to send homeless people in Hawaii back to their families on the mainland.

Representative Rida Cabanilla was also instrumental in getting it passed. She points to a dual purpose in the program: social empathy, combined with fiscal conservatism.

Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL

Rise in Gay Homeless People Threatens San Francisco’s Name as Gay-Friendly Mecca

July 3, 2013/4 Comments/in Featured, News /by IAN BURRELL

Photo Credit: independent.co.uk

When “Strawberry” was ejected from his student digs in Denver, Colorado, following a rental dispute, he headed to San Francisco thinking it would provide a sanctuary for a young gay man.

Not so. After six months of living on the streets he had lost the shirt on his back – literally. Identified as an easy target he was chased, beaten and robbed of the backpack containing all his worldly goods. “He grabbed me by the hair, threw me to the ground and started dragging me,” he said of his attacker. “My shirt was ripped off and I got a black eye and a bloody nose,” he said. “San Francisco is not the gay-friendly mecca that they say it is.”

Thanks to the equality rights work of pioneers such as the politician and activist Harvey Milk, San Francisco has a reputation as the gay capital of the world. But as the city recovers from its 43rd gay Pride festival at the weekend, attended by more than 1.5 million people, it must confront an uncomfortable issue. The streets through which about 200 colourful parades – from drag queens to the motorcycle-riding Dykes on Bikes – travelled, are also home to increasing numbers of gay homeless people, many of whom are exceptionally vulnerable to prejudice and violence.

Research produced by the Human Services Agency of San Francisco (SF-HSA) has revealed that 29 per cent of the city’s homeless population are from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. “Strawberry” is now living in a shelter but says his sexuality places him at risk.

Homeless Removed from Complex of Tunnels, Underground Shelters in Kansas City

April 11, 2013/1 Comment/in Featured, The Offbeat /by Matt Cambell

Photo Credit: Kansas City

Kansas City police, a local charity and other city departments on Friday cleared out and filled in a complex of elaborate tunnels and holes at a homeless camp near the East Bottoms.

“One of the tunnels probably went 20 to 25 feet underground towards the back and veered off in another direction about six feet or so, and there was some bedding and some candles,” said Officer Jason Cooley, community interaction officer for the East Patrol. “It was kind of in a little hill and probably four feet beneath the surface.”

Another tunnel dropped about five feet into the ground before shooting off laterally for seven or eight feet. Many of the holes were concealed. At least one had wood stacked around it and others were bare earth. PVC pipe provided ventilation. What especially concerned Cooley was a pile of recently soiled diapers, indicating the presence of children.

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