July 26th, 2010
The proposals include offering plane tickets to the mainland, creating a homeless "tent city" on less visible state land and providing more affordable housing in Honolulu, where rents are among the nation's highest.
"If you're going to be homeless anywhere, it's good to be here," said Williams, a 35-year-old tattoo artist from Long Beach, Calif., as he hung his clothes to dry between two palm trees. "I'm dealing with the cards I got dealt. I don't want to stay here forever."
There were 4,171 homeless on the island of Oahu when a census was taken in January, according to the report released last month, an increase of 15 percent from the same time last year.
"They don't seem to bother people, but it's probably not the image Hawaii wants," said Kathryn Novak, a tourist from Manchester, England, as she prepared to swim off Waikiki. "You'd imagine they'd have their own area, and not so much where the tourists are."
