{"id":1121,"date":"2018-07-08T18:53:26","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T04:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/?p=1121"},"modified":"2018-07-08T18:53:40","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T04:53:40","slug":"choon-james-answer-to-civil-beat-questions-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/?p=1121","title":{"rendered":"Choon James: Answer to Civil Beat Questions &#8211; Homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"<ol start=\"2\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><\/em><em> A recent survey found that homelessness remains a problem on Oahu. What should be done? Do you support an islandwide sit-lie ban? Why or why not?<\/em>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>There will always be the poor amongst us in this modern cash economy. There is no one silver bullet to this homeless issue. Some require mental health\/ addiction help, but most need rental units. Coordination with state and federal is imperative.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>Singapore efficiently provides affordable public rentals tied to the tenants\u2019 income. We need to concentrate on creating more truly affordable rental units.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>I do not support an island-wide ban.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>Since the first sit-lie bill in 2014 for the Waikiki Special District, I\u2019ve consistently testified at Council hearings that \u2018sit-lie\u201d bills must be accompanied with options for those affected.\u00a0 Pushing the homeless around does not solve the problem.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>Undoubtedly, we must maintain clean, vibrant and safe public spaces for the public and businesses. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>However, burning personal items into ashes is cruel. Confiscating personal papers and medication is inhumane and creates more complications for the down trodden.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>Over a million dollars were squandered through court settlements and legal fees because the city violated due process in its sit-lie implementations.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>HUD CDBG funds have been diverted from non-profits and homeless shelters for pork and pay-to-play projects.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_907\" style=\"width: 626px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-907\" class=\" wp-image-907\" src=\"https:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Caldwell-homeless-children1-470x287.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"616\" height=\"376\" srcset=\"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Caldwell-homeless-children1-470x287.jpg 470w, http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Caldwell-homeless-children1-768x470.jpg 768w, http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Caldwell-homeless-children1-1024x626.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 616px) 100vw, 616px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-907\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tents line both sides of Olomehani Street in Kakaako near the Ohe Street intersection. 30dec2014 photograph Cory Lum\/Civil Beat<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent survey found that homelessness remains a problem on Oahu. What should be done? Do you support an islandwide sit-lie ban? Why or why not?&nbsp; There will always be the poor amongst us in this modern cash economy. There is no one silver bullet to this homeless issue. Some require mental health\/ addiction help, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[245,144,132,241],"class_list":["post-1121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-choon-james-choon-james-for-city-council","tag-city-and-county-of-honolulu","tag-honolulu-homeless","tag-votechoon-com"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1121"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1123,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121\/revisions\/1123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}