To: Maui County Council
Affordable Housing Committee
Gabe Johnson, Chair
Michael Molina, Vice Chair
From: Rhonda Alexander-Monkres, Program Manager
Hawaiian Community Assets
Subject: Housing Project under Chapter 2.97, Maui County
Hale Pilina Rental Housing Project in Kahului
Aloha kākou,
I am submitting this testimony in support of the Hale Pilina project. The need and and demand for affordable rentals are critical and especially for Maui residents earning 60% and below AMI. The need is immediate and I ask that the Council approve this project and allow the planning team to move forward. Catholic Charities have stepped forward to lead this project and deserve your full support.
Owning or renting something affordable on Maui is tough for local residents. Our team fields many inquiries from clients who are challenged with finding affordable options and work hard towards being more financially prepared. Please approve this project to provide an option for these types of residents.
My name is Kahala Johnson, I am from Nā Wai ʻEhā on Maui, I am a Political Science Ph.D. candidate and Woman Studies graduate from UH Mānoa here to testify on Agenda Item #4. I am also here as a previous resident of Puʻuhonua o Puʻuhuluhulu, the sanctuary established in 2019 to protect Mauna Kea. Today, I want to speak in solidarity with the unhoused residents and allies of Puʻuhonua o Kanahā and Amala who were evicted this week by a traumatizing collaboration between Mayor Victorino and the Maui Police Department.
Mayor Victorino, Maui Police Department, and Maui County must be held accountable for executing houseless evictions against Center for Disease Control Covid-19 recommendations. The CDC Covid-19 guidelines are exceptionally clear and unequivocal on the issue of removing homeless persons from encampments stating: "If individual housing options are not available, allow people who are living unsheltered or in encampments to remain where they are. Clearing encampments can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers. This increases the potential for infectious disease spread".
By directly ignoring these clear and unequivocal guidelines, Mayor Victorino's poor decisions have endangered the health and safety of our community, both the housed and the unhoused. Medical and healthcare facilities on Maui are already overwhelmed by the surge in hospitalized Covid-19 cases and clearing Puʻuhonua o Kanahā risks exacerbating this precarious situation. Furthermore, Victorino actions have provoked an already volatile environment of distrust created by government officials and police enforcement through their traumatizing interactions with the unhoused community, unnecessarily increasing the relational labor of service providers who will have to restore the lost faith and confidence.
In order to begin a process of restorative justice and accountability, I suggest the following:
#1. In alignment with updated and current CDC Covid-19 guidelines, the county needs to pass and maintain a moratorium ceasing all present and future plans to evict, sweep, clear, and disperse the unhoused as long as the pandemic continues to remain a global threat to the safety and health of county residents.
#1. In alignment with "Building Bridges Not Walking on Backs: Feminist Recovery Plan for Covid-19" adopted by Maui County in June 2020, elected officials have a responsibility to attend to the immediate economic and material needs of the houseless evicted from Puʻuhonua o Kanahā. As Lisa Darcy and Share Your Mana has continuously affirmed, the quickest way to build or restore trust and motivation is to secure quick effective results for the unhoused. Currently, the housed community and unhoused advocates are scrambling to secure safe spaces and materials to help our houseless ʻohana survive and recover from their trauma. I want to emphasize here with no amount of irony that the people at the front of this recovery effort are Unhoused, Hawaiian, Black, and Haole women, the very people the Feminist Recovery Plan for Covid-19 was created for to alleviate the difficulties women experience during the pandemic.
#3. In alignment with Kanaka Maoli traditions of birthing and raising Puʻuhonua for the safety of communities traumatized by political violence, the county has a kuleana to undo the Mayorʻs actions against residents of Puʻuhonua o Kanahā. The experience this week, like the experience on Mauna Kea in 2019, was psychologically harmful and traumatizing. A restorative justice and trauma-informed approach to caring for the residents of Puʻuhonua o Kanahā will center their needs--past present and future--including if necessary, the restoration of a Puʻuhonua for the houseless as a protected, traditional, religious Hawaiian refuge where they will not be harassed by the police or government.
Date: September 27, 2021
To: Maui County Council
Affordable Housing Committee
Gabe Johnson, Chair
Michael Molina, Vice Chair
From: Rhonda Alexander-Monkres, Program Manager
Hawaiian Community Assets
Subject: Housing Project under Chapter 2.97, Maui County
Hale Pilina Rental Housing Project in Kahului
Aloha kākou,
I am submitting this testimony in support of the Hale Pilina project. The need and and demand for affordable rentals are critical and especially for Maui residents earning 60% and below AMI. The need is immediate and I ask that the Council approve this project and allow the planning team to move forward. Catholic Charities have stepped forward to lead this project and deserve your full support.
Owning or renting something affordable on Maui is tough for local residents. Our team fields many inquiries from clients who are challenged with finding affordable options and work hard towards being more financially prepared. Please approve this project to provide an option for these types of residents.
Mahalo piha,
Rhonda
Attached is testimony from Hawaii Community Foundation in support of this project. Mahalo.
My name is Kahala Johnson, I am from Nā Wai ʻEhā on Maui, I am a Political Science Ph.D. candidate and Woman Studies graduate from UH Mānoa here to testify on Agenda Item #4. I am also here as a previous resident of Puʻuhonua o Puʻuhuluhulu, the sanctuary established in 2019 to protect Mauna Kea. Today, I want to speak in solidarity with the unhoused residents and allies of Puʻuhonua o Kanahā and Amala who were evicted this week by a traumatizing collaboration between Mayor Victorino and the Maui Police Department.
Mayor Victorino, Maui Police Department, and Maui County must be held accountable for executing houseless evictions against Center for Disease Control Covid-19 recommendations. The CDC Covid-19 guidelines are exceptionally clear and unequivocal on the issue of removing homeless persons from encampments stating: "If individual housing options are not available, allow people who are living unsheltered or in encampments to remain where they are. Clearing encampments can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers. This increases the potential for infectious disease spread".
By directly ignoring these clear and unequivocal guidelines, Mayor Victorino's poor decisions have endangered the health and safety of our community, both the housed and the unhoused. Medical and healthcare facilities on Maui are already overwhelmed by the surge in hospitalized Covid-19 cases and clearing Puʻuhonua o Kanahā risks exacerbating this precarious situation. Furthermore, Victorino actions have provoked an already volatile environment of distrust created by government officials and police enforcement through their traumatizing interactions with the unhoused community, unnecessarily increasing the relational labor of service providers who will have to restore the lost faith and confidence.
In order to begin a process of restorative justice and accountability, I suggest the following:
#1. In alignment with updated and current CDC Covid-19 guidelines, the county needs to pass and maintain a moratorium ceasing all present and future plans to evict, sweep, clear, and disperse the unhoused as long as the pandemic continues to remain a global threat to the safety and health of county residents.
#1. In alignment with "Building Bridges Not Walking on Backs: Feminist Recovery Plan for Covid-19" adopted by Maui County in June 2020, elected officials have a responsibility to attend to the immediate economic and material needs of the houseless evicted from Puʻuhonua o Kanahā. As Lisa Darcy and Share Your Mana has continuously affirmed, the quickest way to build or restore trust and motivation is to secure quick effective results for the unhoused. Currently, the housed community and unhoused advocates are scrambling to secure safe spaces and materials to help our houseless ʻohana survive and recover from their trauma. I want to emphasize here with no amount of irony that the people at the front of this recovery effort are Unhoused, Hawaiian, Black, and Haole women, the very people the Feminist Recovery Plan for Covid-19 was created for to alleviate the difficulties women experience during the pandemic.
#3. In alignment with Kanaka Maoli traditions of birthing and raising Puʻuhonua for the safety of communities traumatized by political violence, the county has a kuleana to undo the Mayorʻs actions against residents of Puʻuhonua o Kanahā. The experience this week, like the experience on Mauna Kea in 2019, was psychologically harmful and traumatizing. A restorative justice and trauma-informed approach to caring for the residents of Puʻuhonua o Kanahā will center their needs--past present and future--including if necessary, the restoration of a Puʻuhonua for the houseless as a protected, traditional, religious Hawaiian refuge where they will not be harassed by the police or government.
Mahalo committee for your time