Homeless

Teams from the Honolulu Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement program are still going out to help unsheltered people following the Kona storm.

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.

The storm is expected to last through Saturday, bringing possible flooding, windy conditions and thunderstorms. By Wednesday evening, all islands will be under flood watch.

Executive Director of Residential Youth Services and Empowerment, or RYSE, spoke to HPR's Maddie Bender about how the organization will be using a $2.5 million gift to support homeless youth on Oʻahu.

Family Promise of Hawaiʻi, an organization that serves families experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity, has seen the number of calls for assistance significantly increase over the last few months.

Hawaiʻi Island Community Health Center's street medicine program is growing to address the need for health care services for people experiencing homelessness.

Maui community members are calling for changes to homeless encampment sweeps. Maui County lawmakers this week shelved Bill 111, which proposed a more "empathetic" approach to relocating homeless individuals in encampments on county land.

The Houseless Outreach and Medical Education project, also known as the Hawaiʻi H.O.M.E project, hit 20 years of providing free health care for unhoused people across Oʻahu.

The Conversation's Catherine Cruz observed a count of individuals experiencing homelessness throughout Waikīkī.

Gov. Josh Green spoke to The Conversation on Thursday morning about this emergency situation, vaccine exemptions in schools, and the resignation of John Mizuno, who led the state's homelessness initiatives.