Honolulu cited as 8th ‘meanest’ city for homeless
The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless in July ranked Honolulu as the eighth meanest city in the nation because of its treatment of the homeless, citing the city’s closing of Kapiolani Park and beach parks on the Leeward Coast to camping, shutting down parks and evicting homeless campers.
"The ban on overnight sleeping has not worked," the report said. "Homeless individuals simply stay up at night and sleep during the day, making it even more difficult for them to find employment." The report, titled “Homes not Handcuffs: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities,” also noted efforts to make it a crime to sleep at a bus stop.
The groups surveyed 273 cities and ranked them based on factors such as their number of anti-homeless laws and their general political climate toward homeless people. Los Angeles was ranked as the nation's meanest city for its 2-year-old police crackdown on Skid Row. L.A.’s Safe City Initiative targets the homeless by making it illegal to sleep, eat or sit in public spaces in the 50-square-block area of downtown, the report said. The crackdown results in 1,000 citations a month.
The top ten cities cited by the report were:
- Los Angeles, Calif.
- St. Petersburg. Fla.
- Orlando, Fla.
- Atlanta, Ga.
- Gainesville, Fla.
- Kalamazoo, Mich.
- San Francisco, Calif.
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Bradenton, Fla.
- Berkeley, Calif.
"Homelessness in America is a human-rights crisis right here at home," said Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. "As foreclosures continue and the recession deepens, the crisis is affecting more and more Americans. ... Too often, as documented in our report, cities adopt unjust laws and practices that punish people simply for being poor and homeless."
Critics of the report point out that, while homeless people have been displaced, the state has set up homeless shelters to accommodate the needs of homeless families. “Any assessment of the homeless should weigh their rights of access against the threat of their takeover of beaches and parks,” said the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in an editorial. “Mayor Mufi Hannemann has rightly stressed ‘that our parks should be available for everyone and not just for one segment of the community.’"
