Stored property enforcement and sidewalk nuisance enforcement to continue; HONU to continue to serve homeless population

News Release from C&C of Honolulu, March 17, 2020

HONOLULU- Mayor Kirk Caldwell reiterated his commitment to continue enforcing the stored property ordinance and sidewalk nuisance ordinance laws.

“The concern over COVID-19 vulnerable communities include encampments where people live in clusters without the benefit of accepted hygiene practices to minimize the spread of the virus,” said Mayor Caldwell.

“If we were to stop enforcing these ordinances, we could see the return of a similar situation we witnessed in Kaka‘ako in 2015, with unsanitary conditions becoming a significant threat to public health and safety. These enforcements are essential to protecting the health and safety of all of our citizens, including those in our homeless community.

We continue to encourage those people that are living on the streets to accept moving to shelters where help and services are available and potential threats from COVID-19 minimized.

We are also working with the Department of Health to make sure any homeless individuals who test positive for COVID-19 have somewhere to go. We are offering our Ka‘a‘ahi street property for this purpose.”

The City and County of Honolulu will also continue to work with the Honolulu Police Department to operate the HONU navigation center as usual. This facility is not designed and would not be suited to operate as a temporary health care facility.

—PAU—

March 19, 2020: Homeless ‘Frequent Flyers’ Clog our Hospitals during Pandemic—But Opportunity to FORCE them into shelter ignored