:00:15. > :00:16.A wise glamorous image as a picture postcard paradise belies
:00:17. > :00:27.We've the highest per capita rate of homelessness in the country,
:00:28. > :00:30.which is ironic because we have some of the greatest concentrations
:00:31. > :00:36.I think it could be a tempest building up and that pressure,
:00:37. > :00:42.A surge in homelessness is pushing the system to breaking point,
:00:43. > :00:48.exposing an ugly social divide in the Aloha state.
:00:49. > :00:51.I think we're one of the stronger communities as far as getting
:00:52. > :00:54.together and saying we don't want the homeless in our neighbourhood
:00:55. > :00:58.and we need to be strong and vocal and try to do whatever we can
:00:59. > :01:04.You can't have a civil society where it's OK for someone
:01:05. > :01:07.to defecate in front of Burberry's and wipe their ass on the corner
:01:08. > :01:10.I'm sorry, all right, it doesn't work.
:01:11. > :01:12.With authorities cracking down on homeless camps,
:01:13. > :01:15.there's growing disquiet about criminalising
:01:16. > :01:22.You know, we are living in our cultural rights.
:01:23. > :01:26.You know, some tell us that we're living wrong,
:01:27. > :01:30.As the crisis worsens, a remarkable group of women
:01:31. > :01:35.are forging ahead with their own solution.
:01:36. > :01:39.Before you leave this place, I will make sure that
:01:40. > :01:53.I changed your mind about homeless and houseless people.
:01:54. > :01:56.In just a few years, Hawaii has been caught up
:01:57. > :02:09.Thousands live rough on beaches, in parks and on streets,
:02:10. > :02:13.their lives mired in poverty and trauma.
:02:14. > :02:17.Authorities are struggling to contain the spread.
:02:18. > :02:25.If you won't give me water, get out of my face.
:02:26. > :02:29.To say that we were caught off guard may be only part of the story.
:02:30. > :02:32.We were, to a degree, but also we saw an incredible surge,
:02:33. > :02:36.It's why it's become our biggest issue.
:02:37. > :02:38.I'd say it's attracted more attention, at least
:02:39. > :02:41.from my perspective, than any other issue in the last 20
:02:42. > :03:13.It's very expensive to live in Hawaii.
:03:14. > :03:16.In most cases, people have to work two jobs to pay their rent
:03:17. > :03:21.So it's always been expensive, but then when there was a surge
:03:22. > :03:24.in costs because there's been an inventory shortage,
:03:25. > :03:27.we saw it become impossible for some middle-class people to afford
:03:28. > :03:35.Now you had poverty, increased cost of living,
:03:36. > :03:41.There was a wave of drug addiction which really fries people's brains
:03:42. > :03:43.and that makes it impossible to function in normal society,
:03:44. > :03:47.and a lot of those people end up on the street.
:03:48. > :03:51.About a fifth of Hawaii's homeless population have recently moved
:03:52. > :03:59.Attracted by the idea that life is easier in the island state,
:04:00. > :04:05.they often discover a different reality.
:04:06. > :04:10.In Honolulu, filthy hovels inside stormwater drains and under
:04:11. > :04:14.motorways have sparked panicked alarms over public
:04:15. > :04:22.As elsewhere in the United States, here, the average life expectancy
:04:23. > :04:29.for a homeless individual is just 51 years old.
:04:30. > :04:32.My name is Nick Grube, I'm a reporter with Honolulu Civil Beat,
:04:33. > :04:35.and we are an investigative news outlet based in Honolulu,
:04:36. > :04:40.I've walked this street several times before,
:04:41. > :04:46.It's just continued to grow to where now, as you can see,
:04:47. > :04:49.we're walking through the middle of the street right now
:04:50. > :04:54.because the sidewalks are covered in people's homes.
:04:55. > :04:57.Basically, the city is looking at including this street
:04:58. > :05:07.in its sit-lie ban which would mean that all of this will have to go,
:05:08. > :05:12.but the question is - where will the people go?
:05:13. > :05:16.And that's what the city's been struggling with for years.
:05:17. > :05:19.Now they're going to have to pack up and move on,
:05:20. > :05:42.The idea is, is that if you've been disrupted,
:05:43. > :05:46.it will make you uncomfortable enough to maybe, perhaps,
:05:47. > :05:49.make better decisions about your life and accept the help
:05:50. > :05:52.that's being offered, because there is a great deal
:05:53. > :05:58.The sit and lie laws are controversial, with critics
:05:59. > :06:01.claiming that they criminalise the homeless.
:06:02. > :06:06.It was along Waikiki Beach that the city first introduced
:06:07. > :06:10.its sit and lie crackdown after hotels and other businesses
:06:11. > :06:16.loudly complained that the homeless camps were spooking tourists.
:06:17. > :06:19.A lot of people have ideological and emotional blinders on that
:06:20. > :06:28.If you kiss on the tourist industry, there's a huge economic cost that
:06:29. > :06:34.will create more poverty and will reduce the tax base which,
:06:35. > :06:53.by the way, homeless services are dependent upon.
:06:54. > :06:59.Even though they've cleared out, they come back.
:07:00. > :07:05.Layne Goodall says she's on a mission to keep her community
:07:06. > :07:15.We have laws in Hawaii that state it's illegal to live on the streets.
:07:16. > :07:18.And we have this state of lawlessness right now.
:07:19. > :07:26.With the help of other local residents, she patrols the streets
:07:27. > :07:29.of Hawaii Kai, looking for any signs of the homeless.
:07:30. > :07:33.So again, you see the post-it sign there now for private property.
:07:34. > :07:37.As soon as you see one tent go up, the community needs to call
:07:38. > :07:39.the police, call the city, call the state and get
:07:40. > :07:50.Once you have one tent, then two tents, then you're outnumbered.
:07:51. > :07:53.When homeless camps began springing up in local parks and bushland,
:07:54. > :07:55.residents began worrying about property values and the risk
:07:56. > :08:05.of brush fires engulfing their million-dollar homes.
:08:06. > :08:08.The knife, and he plunges after this man...
:08:09. > :08:11.Like many locals in Hawaii Kai, Lane views the island's
:08:12. > :08:17.A lot of the people here are one-way tickets from the mainland.
:08:18. > :08:21.Word of mouth is kind of spreading and people on cell phones and social
:08:22. > :08:27.media now - a lot of the homeless people have Facebook pages.
:08:28. > :08:30.And so, you've got this underground movement of the homeless
:08:31. > :08:32.and the squatters and the freeloaders, but everybody
:08:33. > :08:36.You can't have society where you just have one factor that
:08:37. > :08:43.Hawaii's homeless explosion isn't confined to its urban centre.
:08:44. > :08:47.One of the biggest reasons we did this today was because this bridge
:08:48. > :08:50.is actually a flood zone and it rains a lot in Hawaii.
:08:51. > :08:56.So when the water comes down, we don't want people to get hurt.
:08:57. > :09:06.Most of the people here have already left and the rest scramble
:09:07. > :09:13.to gather their belongings and leave to avoid trouble with the police.
:09:14. > :09:18.So you see it going all the way out to the water and then you see
:09:19. > :09:22.There's maybe about five or six camp sites.
:09:23. > :09:24.Spreading out into the nearby mangroves, this camp was extensive
:09:25. > :09:30.and several young families were living here.
:09:31. > :09:34.For young homeless outreach workers like Casey, who try to get families
:09:35. > :09:40.It's really hard, especially because these kids go to school
:09:41. > :09:45.and their classmates know that they're, you know,
:09:46. > :09:49.None of those caught up in today's sweep seem interested
:09:50. > :09:54.Do you want to stay with these friendly folks?
:09:55. > :09:59.OK, we'll see you later then, minus the bike.
:10:00. > :10:08.It's not against the law to be homeless.
:10:09. > :10:11.So we can't arrest people for no apparent reason.
:10:12. > :10:28.It gotinfected and I went to the doctor, and the doctor put me
:10:29. > :10:33.My name is Heather, I'm the community outreach RN at IHS.
:10:34. > :10:37.I could not believe that these people were walking,
:10:38. > :10:39.talking and functioning, eating and able to walk
:10:40. > :10:44.Wounds that we never saw really in school or in the hospital
:10:45. > :10:48.because they're really big and infected and abscesses,
:10:49. > :10:58.The homeless are the people that have the least political cloud,
:10:59. > :11:01.-- The homeless are the people that have the least political clout
:11:02. > :11:19.so they get forgotten too often, until the system begins to crash.
:11:20. > :11:27.We are going to get you into the room and do
:11:28. > :11:32.I think the biggest frustration is that you are a physician
:11:33. > :11:36.who really wants to see their patients get better.
:11:37. > :11:42.It is like this horrific Groundhog Day of sorts.
:11:43. > :11:44.That occurs every two weeks with these individuals,
:11:45. > :11:49.because they just are not able to access or have those determinants
:11:50. > :11:53.of help with their social care, to be squirrelled away once
:11:54. > :11:57.they leave our four walls and they suffer, they fail
:11:58. > :12:00.and they come back, battered and beaten and broken.
:12:01. > :12:07.Queen's Medical Centre is on the front line of Hawaii's
:12:08. > :12:12.Seeing hundreds of patients every week.
:12:13. > :12:19.Some of them costing more than $1 million a year each in medical care.
:12:20. > :12:22.What do you do when you got some individuals who are struggling
:12:23. > :12:25.greatly, who need our compassionate support, but who also
:12:26. > :12:30.are threatening the entire health economy of our state?
:12:31. > :12:33.In order to get to the heart of an explosive problem,
:12:34. > :12:41.As a practising emergency room doctor, Senator Josh Green
:12:42. > :12:45.understands the grave health risks of homelessness and he is proposing
:12:46. > :12:54.This is going to be the first time that we are going to have a hybrid
:12:55. > :12:56.programme, that is both seamless and integrated.
:12:57. > :12:59.Treat homelessness as a medical condition and allow doctors
:13:00. > :13:01.to prescribe housing for the homeless, paid
:13:02. > :13:13.Get people into homes and save billions of dollars.
:13:14. > :13:18.These resources are already in the budget.
:13:19. > :13:22.But it totally flips how we use them, so we can actually avail
:13:23. > :13:24.ourselves of a lot of housing very quickly.
:13:25. > :13:27.If we do not, we will see the problem grow.
:13:28. > :13:31.They could get much worse if we do not have a game-changer.
:13:32. > :13:34.While prescribing housing could be a game-changer,
:13:35. > :13:38.the average price of a home in Hawaii is around US$700,000
:13:39. > :14:00.Amidst Hawaii's housing crunch, there is a growing push to recognise
:14:01. > :14:18.Hello, my name is Twinkle Borge and I am the leader here.
:14:19. > :14:25.The name means refugee, people of the land, the caretakers.
:14:26. > :14:42.How you live is who you are, that is how I feel.
:14:43. > :14:44.The recyclables, put it away where it belongs.
:14:45. > :14:52.This is no ordinary homeless encampment.
:14:53. > :14:55.Anyone who comes to live here must sign a contract
:14:56. > :15:01.Amongst them, every resident must contribute eight hours a week
:15:02. > :15:16.Each section will have their areas to concentrate on, to rebuild,
:15:17. > :15:23.So like, they have decided to put fences in, as a community,
:15:24. > :15:25.go and help strengthen your walls and what not.
:15:26. > :15:29.If rubbish needs to be put out, you will see our vehicles coming
:15:30. > :15:37.The encampment is built from tarpaulins, tent
:15:38. > :15:39.poles and recycled goods, but there is little
:15:40. > :15:43.So we usually use these palettes for rebuilding your flooring,
:15:44. > :15:54.So when it rains or anything you're not in the water.
:15:55. > :15:58.When you do get high tide here, you notice the ocean,
:15:59. > :16:04.this water can come as far as that tree.
:16:05. > :16:08.So these palettes play a big roll here.
:16:09. > :16:12.This cohesive community is remarkably organised,
:16:13. > :16:14.divided into different sections, each led by a captain.
:16:15. > :16:32.And when it comes to the little ones, it's automatic.
:16:33. > :16:34.We automatically protect the little ones.
:16:35. > :16:36.Our children, our safety, our rules, everything is based
:16:37. > :16:44.With the safety of the children paramount, there are stringent
:16:45. > :16:51.rules and a three strikes and you're out system.
:16:52. > :16:55.This is the donation card, we have a donation thing.
:16:56. > :16:57.Twinkle's adopted son, Adam, helps to enforce them.
:16:58. > :17:10.Or if it's out there and it comes in here,
:17:11. > :17:11.you're automatically out, completely.
:17:12. > :17:15.I will come back, Twinkle will let me know, she will give me
:17:16. > :17:19.the papers of the violations, I will go and read it to them
:17:20. > :17:24.And then if it happens two more times, we get three chances,
:17:25. > :17:28.right on the third chance, I come in and I kick you right out.
:17:29. > :17:36.She has been my inspiration for a long time.
:17:37. > :17:43.I don't even need to be living like this.
:17:44. > :17:49.I can go straight into a home, but I choose not to.
:17:50. > :17:52.I choose to stay here because I love the people and I love
:17:53. > :18:01.The resilience of this remarkable community is admirable.
:18:02. > :18:05.The only electricity is from those lucky enough to own and fuel
:18:06. > :18:08.a generator and the nearest toilets are hundreds of metres
:18:09. > :18:23.With water pipes cut off to the camp, residents need to fill
:18:24. > :18:29.bottles and cart them from a camp at the nearby marina.
:18:30. > :18:35.It is one of the many daily chores that keeps this place going.
:18:36. > :18:40.How come the Hawaiians are struggling here?
:18:41. > :18:48.You came here, you took our land from us and left us like that.
:18:49. > :18:54.Just an hour's drive from Honolulu, the reality of life for these
:18:55. > :18:56.Hawaiians is vastly different to the one that mainland
:18:57. > :19:04.Twinkle became homeless 14 years ago.
:19:05. > :19:08.Creating this community has been a long struggle.
:19:09. > :19:18.But I fell in love with someone who I thought
:19:19. > :19:24.would never fool around on me and I became so depressed.
:19:25. > :19:27.I had all this money that was saved, everything, to find out
:19:28. > :19:33.that this person wiped me out of my money and everything.
:19:34. > :19:44.Twinkle firmly believes that home is where the heart is.
:19:45. > :19:48.For me, homeless is someone who lives in a van, who has no home.
:19:49. > :19:54.But I live in a tent, that is my home.
:19:55. > :19:57.I have had tour groups that come in and many times
:19:58. > :19:59.I straightout tell them, before you leave this place,
:20:00. > :20:04.I will make sure that I change your mind about homeless
:20:05. > :20:08.and how homeless people that live out in the elements as we do.
:20:09. > :20:12.They are amazed at what the people do here.
:20:13. > :20:14.They are amazed because once they pass these double poles,
:20:15. > :20:27.Buoyed by the success of their community, Twinkle
:20:28. > :20:33.and her team captains have big plans for the future.
:20:34. > :20:36.The community wants the right to lease the land where they live
:20:37. > :20:39.and to build more durable homes with solar power and
:20:40. > :20:48.They also want fences and security cameras to keep them safe.
:20:49. > :20:54.But the camp's future is far from guaranteed.
:20:55. > :20:59.Behind closed doors, there is an ongoing discussion
:21:00. > :21:02.between those who want it dismantled and its residents put into shelters
:21:03. > :21:11.and those who want it recognised and preserved.
:21:12. > :21:13.Basically, we're just homeless in our own homes,
:21:14. > :21:17.Many locals regard the camp as an eyesore
:21:18. > :21:31.Amidst concerns that it is growing too big.
:21:32. > :21:34.So far, despite Twinkle's pleas, Hawaii's Governor has held back
:21:35. > :21:40.from making any commitment to letting them stay.
:21:41. > :21:44.I believe we have over 500 and I said we cannot afford more
:21:45. > :21:47.We can fit maybe 300 comfortably, but we usally stay
:21:48. > :21:52.Twinkle says she will do what it takes to save her community,
:21:53. > :22:00.but she is confident that she can convince her detractors.
:22:01. > :22:03.We have a little squabble, I am not looking at it
:22:04. > :22:07.I don't know why they are afraid of working with us.
:22:08. > :22:10.As Hawaii grapples with its homeless crisis, there is also a sense
:22:11. > :22:12.of hope that enterprising solutions can be found to
:22:13. > :22:19.Twinkle believes her camp could serve as a model for other
:22:20. > :22:31.houseless communities across the islands.
:22:32. > :22:34.She says it is not only time for new ideas,
:22:35. > :22:39.If they want to learn more about the situation
:22:40. > :22:42.and come up with a solution, come and sit down with us.
:22:43. > :22:48.Because the answer lies here, not there.
:22:49. > :23:13.Not in their office, not in their books, here.
:23:14. > :23:17.We have got some very warm weather indeed coming up over the next few
:23:18. > :23:20.days, with the high-pressure firmly in charge of our weather.
:23:21. > :23:24.That's going to bring very warm, if not hot, weather to most