Hawaii Is Giving Homeless People A One-Way Ticket Off The Islands

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/hawaii-to-send-homeless-people-home-2013-7

Hawaii is giving its 17,000-strong population of homeless people a one-way ticket off the islands.

It sounds a lot crueler than it actually is.

Lawmakers in the state have decided to deal with its cash-strapped welfare program by giving the homeless an opportunity to return to their home states and, hopefully, families who can help.

It's called the "return-to-home" program, which mirrors a similar (and equally controversial) plan implemented by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/hawaii-to-send-homeless-people-home-2013-7#ixzz2aceVIQEB

[Deep13]

1. how much is an airline ticket?

$1000 at least? That's a lot of rice and canned beans.

[loli phabay]

2. yeah but its a one time expense for the state, kind of makes sense to get people home if they cant

Make it in the state.

[Deep13]

3. Sure, if those people want to go back to the mainland. nt

[HiPointDem]

6. yeah, all the states can trade their homeless -- and then what?

[loli phabay]

10. simple idea seems beyond your comprehension.

[HiPointDem]

20. I repeat, once all the cities have sent their homeless off to some other city, effectively trading

populations of homeless: then what?

if it's so fucking simple, answer the question.

[loli phabay]

23. its simple they are two different subjects, i am for them giving someone who is homeless

And wants to leave the islands and go back to the mainland a ticket. You seem to have a problem understanding the difficulties of being penniless thousands of miles from whete you come from and want to go.

[Jesus Malverde]

13. $5-600

They will save money in the long run. Many of the homeless are mentally ill who have sometimes been sent to hawaii by states that did not want them.

Las Vegas was sending mentally ill to California.

California communities were dumping mentally ill in LA's skid row.

San Francisco has a bus ticket program for the homeless.

It's all a game of musical chairs. The social safety net is the extended family.

[dkf]

4. Early on some legislators were using their own wallets to reunite people with their families.

Hawaii is very family oriented, especially with the high cost of housing which often leads to 3 generations living together.

Without that kind of family support, the high cost of living makes it difficult to live comfortably here.

[FSogol]

5. Prior to the 1980s, many big city homeless programs consisted of giving them a meal

and putting them on a bus out of town.

[HiPointDem]

7. prior to the 1980s, homeless were few and far between, because of post-war housing policy.

i think you're thinking of the great depression.

and fyi, cities are putting homeless out of town *today*.

The Michigan arm of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice calling for an investigation into the Detroit Police Department’s practice of forcing homeless people into vans and taking them “for a ride” miles out of town, where the cops then desert them.

http://personalliberty.com/2013/04/22/detroit-cops-kidnapping-abandoning-homeless-people-outside-city/

[FSogol]

8. You mean prior to Reagan closing the Federal Mental Hospitals. n/t

[HiPointDem]

21. the reason for homelessness appearing in the reagan admin had little to do with mental hospitals.

that was just the PR explanation.

it had to do with federal support for low-income housing.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

9. Salvation Army does this too.

At least they did back in the 80's when my Mom worked for them. As long as they had someone to stay with at their destination, SA would get them a bus ticket. By the middle of the month, the funds were usually gone.

[Xithras]

11. Hawaii is a bit of a special case on this.

Anywhere else in the country, if you go broke and end up on the streets, and you have family elsewhere who can get you back on your feet, it's simply a matter of thumbing a ride, getting a cheap bus ticket, or doing a lot of walking to go see them. In Hawaii, you have to fly. The cheapest ticket I could find from Honolulu to Los Angeles was $450 one-way, which is an insurmountably large sum of money for someone who is living on the streets.

I see no problem with helping people leave if they WANT to leave. Thanks to that big ocean surrounding them, government assistance provides the only practical way that they CAN leave.

[Incitatus]

12. Yes, I don't see a problem with this.

I don't see any indication that homeless people will be forced off the islands. It looks like they have to apply and meet certain requirements. And also be lucky if picked since it is said to only fund 100 people a year.

Also from the article:

"Also packaged in the bill was increased funding for substance abuse treatment, mental health support, and housing for addicts."

[Safetykitten]

14. Gee, what a love fest for exorcising people from an island. Great Democratic values!

[loli phabay]

15. yeah people who want to leave, people seem to miss that part.

[Safetykitten]

16. Well, I will get a one way there, and ask Hawaii to pay my trip back, when I feel like it...

is that how it goes?

[loli phabay]

17. no idea on the parameters of the program but i presume you have to be in their welfare system

And using homeless services etc before tjey make you the offer. Some common sense it seems is required when reading this idea.

[Safetykitten]

18. Oh, so it's just POOR PEOPLE. Got it.

[loli phabay]

19. kind of obviously its poor people if they are homeless and on welfare

Kind of pointless having a program to get people who are homeless on the islands and want to go to the mainland if you dont offer it to people who are homeless and want of the island.

[cthulu2016]

22. (Am I really the first to say this?) Aloha means Good-bye