20 individuals living in a homeless encampment outside of Kona Community Aquatic Center recently moved into Hope Shelters.  The residents told outreach workers they had previously taken refuge in the bushes at the Old Kona Airport Park, but were forced out when the county performed a sweep of the park earlier this month.

Soon after their move to the Aquatic Center, concerned residents reached out to Hope Services which operates two emergency shelters in West Hawai’i including the West Hawaiʻi Emergency Housing Program on Pawai Place and Ka Lamakū, the village of eighteen freestanding micro-shelters located at the old airport park.

All twenty of the individuals from the encampment were provided shelter.  Of the twenty, fourteen of identified as Native Hawaiian, four as Caucasian, and two as African-American. Most had lost their homes because the rent had become unaffordable, or as a result of family issues.

According to the Hawaiʻi Budget and Policy Center, 42% of all homes sold in Hawaiʻi County from 2017 to 2020 were purchased by out–of-state investors.

Photo credit: Hope Services Hawaiʻi