HONOLULU (CN) — A group of five houseless individuals in Honolulu have sued the city over unconstitutional houseless policies and widespread “sweeps” of encampments that they say violate their civil rights.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii filed the class action Wednesday in Oahu Circuit Court on behalf of the five plaintiffs and other houseless people who have been subject to what ACLU called “a campaign of criminalization, harassment, displacement, and property dispossession targeted exclusively at the houseless community” in the suit.
“People experiencing houselessness have the same fundamental rights under the U.S. and Hawaii Constitutions as those who are lucky enough to have housing and shelter, yet the day-to-day reality regarding the exercise of those rights is much different for our houseless neighbors,” said ACLU of Hawaii Legal Director Wookie Kim in a statement. “Our plaintiffs and houseless neighbors are denied these fundamental rights, and other constitutional guarantees, far more flagrantly and far more often than housed people. The city is essentially penalizing houseless people for their very existence.”
According to Kim and the ACLU, ordinances and laws have unfairly punished houseless people for their visibility in a state that relies on an image of paradise.
The ACLU of Hawaii, along with Ginger Grimes of California’s Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho, note in the suit that there are over 2000 unhoused individuals on Oahu and fewer than 50 vacancies in shelters across the island. The plaintiffs say that this lack of shelter space conflicts with city ordinances and laws that prohibit camping, sitting or sleeping in public space.
These prohibitions have prompted the city to conduct regular sweeps of houseless encampments, where personal belongings and shelters are seized and Honolulu Police Officers make arrests and issue citations without warning, and without recourse to recover personal property. The plaintiffs say in the suit that they have lost essential identification materials, medication and medical equipment, clothing, cookware and sentimental items in these sweeps.
“We believe there is no legal justification for continuing to deny houseless people their fundamental rights when they have no other choice but to live outdoors. Far from promoting sanitation and safety, the sweeps perpetuate the cycle of poverty,” ACLU of Hawaii Staff Attorney Taylor Brack said. in a Wednesday morning press conference.
Breck said that these constant sweeps ensnare houseless individuals — many of whom have faced significant traumas, often police-based — into the criminal justice system with a cycle of arrests, unpaid fines, missed court appearances and arrest warrants.
These sweeps and the ordinances are, according to the ACLU, a cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Aloha State’s Constitution. The organization is also pursuing due process claims for restricting free movement, state-created danger and vagueness against the city.
“The legal foundation for all of these sweeps are the overbroad, vaguely written, selectively enforced web of city ordinances and state laws aimed at criminalizing the innocent conduct that houseless people have no other choice but to do in public spaces,” Kim said, saying that the language of the policies could apply, though they usually won't be, to a tourist napping on Waikiki Beach or even to a business man stopping to take a phone call on the sidewalk.
The ACLU was joined at the press conference by two of the lawsuit’s named plaintiffs.
Jared “Spider” Castro called the sweeps “stressful”. According to the ACLU, Castro has been issued over 200 citations associated with his public living.
“Oahu is my home, I’m not homeless, I’m houseless,” Faimafili “Fili” Tupuola said, tearfully explaining that she has been trying to save up for a year for permanent housing but has been stymied by the constant sweeps.
“Starting over again every time, it really really takes a toll,” she said.
Though housing insecurity has grown exponentially throughout all of the U.S., especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, Hawaii stands out. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Hawaii ranks as one of the least affordable states in the nation, trailing only California in the largest gap between hourly wages and market rental prices.
The ACLU has also reported that Hawaii is often one of the states with the highest rate of houselessness per capita in the U.S, with Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders making up a disproportionate portion of the houseless population.
According to an ACLU report, this spate of houseless ordinances arose following former Honolulu mayor Kirk Caldwell’s “War on Homelessness” around 2014. Current Hawaii Governor Josh Green has recently allocated funds intended for building affordable housing throughout the islands.
A representative for the city and county of Honolulu said, “The city is aware that a lawsuit has been filed. The Department of Corporation Counsel is reviewing the allegations and cannot comment at this time.”
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