Hawaii News Now obtained an email in response to a community complaint written by the Department of Transportation’s Homeless Coordinator that said the agency’s been “forced to pause all clean-up operations."
Unlike the previously proposed location at 65 Beretania St. in Chinatown, many businesses in the Kalihi neighborhood support the idea, saying the need is overwhelming.
Policy experts say the homeless crisis we’re dealing with today is in large part due to decisions that were made a little more than a decade ago during the Great Recession when lawmakers slashed funding to non-profits and decimated the state’s mental health system.