Homeless tourism: Hawaii on $3-a-day?
A taxpayer-funded shelter in Honolulu is attracting (far too many) freeloaders from the mainland
Hawaii is being invaded by homeless mainlanders, says NPR reporter Wayne Yoshioka, and who can blame them? A state-funded homeless shelter in downtown Honolulu is offering room, board and health-care benefits for $3 a day. Are homeless "tourists" living off the backs of Hawaiian taxpayers?
What will $3 a day buy you?
According to NPR, $3 will get a homeless man three meals a day, a bed at Honolulu's Summer Homeless Men's Shelter, $200 a month in food stamps, and free health care. With prices like that, says Gawker's Jeff Neumann, "you could always treat it as a cheap vacation....Better to spend $3 a day than over $200 for some crappy hotel, right?"
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What does this generosity cost taxpayers?
The Summer Homeless Men's Shelter has an operating budget of $2 million, and Aloha State taxpayers foot most of the bill. Hawaii is facing a $1.2 billion budget deficit.
How many mainland homeless are taking advantage of this?
About 1,300 a year — a third of the shelter's guests. University of Hawaii researchers estimate that 43 percent of Honolulu's homeless street population is now white, up from 21 percent in 2005.
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When not camped out at this taxpayer-funded shelter, where do the homeless stay?
State parks and beaches. Their tents and garbage are an eyesore, an unidentified resident told a local TV station, and "if I can see it from the ocean, tourists coming in can see it from the plane....All the homeless tarps and everything is just bad image for Hawaii."
Sources: NPR, Honolulu Advertiser, KITV
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