Hawaii lawmakers want to buy homeless one-way tickets off island

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

Lawmakers in the Aloha State want to wave goodbye to their growing homeless population -- by buying them a one-way ticket off the island.

 

Hawaii's controversial three-year “Return to Home” pilot program launches later this year and is being billed as a way to help the state’s 17,000 homeless residents, while reducing the financial burden the state has in caring for them. Under the plan, the state will pay for a one-way plane ticket for any homeless resident who can find someone on the mainland to take them in.

 

The program, which has a $100,000 annual budget, is the brainchild of state Rep. John Mizuno, who had unsuccessfully tried to get a similar plan through the past three legislative sessions. This year, the measure was attached to a larger spending bill and squeaked through the state legislature.

 

Critics, though, say the program is a quick fix and does nothing to address the root causes of homelessness.

 

Patricia McManaman, director of the Department of Human Services – the agency tasked with implementing the program -- told lawmakers she had reservations about the plan to send the state’s homeless away and questioned the program’s funding. She also had a problem with language in the bill that suggests homeless people are in need of “sufficient personal hygiene” in order to travel – something she calls an “unnecessary and inappropriate stereotype.”

 

But Mizuno argues it’s time the state get on board with a plan that he claims can help up to 100 homeless Hawaiians a year.

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Welcome to paradise, now go home...