When the rain and wind pick up in Hawaiʻi, Kauiomiliona Raspotnik takes cover in her makeshift shelter made of tarp, plywood and other finds.
Raspotnik has been homeless from five to eight years, and she lives on the side of Farrington Highway in Mākaha, Oʻahu. She, like many others living in encampments during a storm, refuses to seek shelter.
“Because why?” she said. “We have a lot of our belongings, and we don’t want people to steal from us. Because we are out here struggling.”
On Saturday, outreach workers across the state were trying to convince people without safe, stable housing to head to shelters during a powerful Kona storm.
But often people don’t want to leave their tents behind out of fear that their belongings will be gone. There are also barriers for homeless people to access some shelters if they have more than one pet or have lost their documents.
People experiencing homelessness in Hawaiʻi are most vulnerable to extreme weather because they often live in low-lying areas such as beaches, under bridges and on cliffs.
Honolulu firefighters on Thursday rescued four people who had been living under a bridge, where the Mānoa and Palolo streams meet in Mōʻiliʻili.
That’s an incident that Corinna Lagaret, the outreach director for Kealahou West Oʻahu, wanted to prevent. She and her team of three people have been working 24/7 since they got word of the storm last week.
They rode in their truck along Farrington Highway off the Waiʻanae Coast, hoping unsheltered people would take them up on their offer to be transported to shelter or at least move away from low-lying areas.
One woman lives on the cliffside of a bridge in Mākaha with her dog. Lagaret and her team came to offer her shelter, but she declined. Instead, she took them up on the offer of a waterproof poncho.
Lagaret worries about the safety of people living in high-risk areas. But she said she can’t force them to go to a shelter.
“My main concern is the water and erosion, for her safety,” Lagaret said. “Plus, she only has one little tarp for shelter.”
Next stop: Lualualei Beach Park, also known as Sewers. It gets its nickname because of the odor coming from the nearby wastewater treatment facility.
There’s an encampment along the shoreline of about 40 people and more than 50 dogs.
The Kealahou West Oʻahu outreach team started handing out ponchos and trying to convince people to head to shelter as the rain came pouring down. As they walked further into the encampment, more dogs came out following them — most likely hoping for scratches and food.
One dog was seen sitting on a mattress as the waves pounded on the shoreline behind him.
If you ask Benny Ahina, he prefers rain to wind. He’s been homeless for six years.
“The last storm was worse,” Ahina said, referring to the storm that happened about a month ago. “The wind was launching everybody’s tents.”
In storms like the one that happened over the weekend, one out of 20 people will take the offer to be transported to shelter, according to Lagaret. In extreme cases, they will not ask for help until the storm escalates.
Ahina said that if one person’s tent leaks, then another person will offer their tent to help. But Ahina still did not take the outreach workers’ offer.
“It could always be worse,” said Housing Manager Tiare Hanawahine, who has known about Ahina’s case since she first started working at Kealahou West Oʻahu. “Giving them at least the ponchos and direction they needed to get to shelter was good information for them.”
It’s a tough job for Lageret and her team, but part of their goal is to make sure that people experiencing homelessness are aware of the resources they have and that they’re safe.
The outreach team drove down to Kapolei in the shopping areas. They noticed some folks left the flood areas for higher ground. Others still remain put.
Lagaret and her team have been working with the unsheltered people on the Leeward side. While there are success stories, others are a work in progress.
One woman whom Lagaret offered a waterproof poncho had a different reaction.
“I’ll poncho face,” the woman said, using poncho as a pun to allude to violence.
Lagaret backed off and went back into the truck. Maybe they’ll revisit her another day.
As of Saturday, not one person wanted to take cover in a shelter. While this wasn’t the outcome she was hoping for, Lagaret understands where they’re coming from.
“At least we still go out there and we offer whatever services that we can and let them know that we’re for them at any time,” she said.
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