Waianae squatter camp is a model of government neglect and indifference

I really have to hand it to the residents of the huge Waianae Boat Harbor squatter camp.  They’ve managed to carve some sense of order out of wilderness and live rent-free on state land for years, taking full advantage of the harbor’s water supply and rubbish collection service while government officials totally abdicate their responsibility to manage the property or even make an actual decision about what to do next.

While officials wring their hands about whether to create government-sanctioned “safe zones” for homeless people to camp, knowledgeable people in the community have fully recognized that the Waianae camp is already a de facto safe zone, and has been for many years.

It’s almost comical to see the state’s homeless honcho insist that “The state didn’t create or authorize the encampment, so it is technically not a safe zone.”

What a load of malarkey.

Of course the state created and authorized the Waianae camp.  It did so by doing absolutely nothing to deter the camp for the past ten years, and it has even fully authorized the camp’s residents to decide who can and cannot live there.

Yes, our government has really reached the point where it effectively governs by not governing.

It’s pretty surreal that this whole discussion with state officials and leaders of the camp took place in the state capitol, yet the state still tries to dance around the whole thing and shirk responsibility.

The concept of a safe zone managed by its residents may be a good one, and the Waianae camp may serve as a good example of that model in action.

But the approach is certainly not endorsed by everyone, mostly because it can become a convenient excuse for doing nothing more to provide actual housing while implementing repressive policies to drive homeless people from other locations.

And so far, the state’s utter failure to do anything to either improve the camp for the health and safety of its residents, move them to more suitable facilities, or even make any decisions about the camp after all these years is an unmistakable monument to government neglect, indifference, and incompetence.

And while it clearly is fashionable in some circles to idealize the Waianae camp and sing its praises, some questions really need to be asked.

What do the camp’s leaders do if someone is rejected for camp residency and refuses to leave?  How is rejection enforced?  And where does that leave the state?

One media account today says that the camp’s leader “noted it’s mandatory for children in the camp to attend school and church.”

So we have a large group living illegally on state land, with leaders deciding who else can live there and forcing children to go to church?  There are all sorts of problems with that scenario, but apparently nobody at the capitol sees any.

The camp’s population is mostly Hawaiian, but are others welcome?  What about a family of, say, African American atheists?  Would they be okay, and would their children be forced to go to church?  What about Hawaiians who reject modern, Western-style religion?  There are plenty, and they certainly have every right to adopt that viewpoint.

Don’t get me wrong.  I think the camp’s leaders are very well-intended and want to instill a sense of community, care, hope, and belonging, and to do their best for the children who are living in this situation.

But the children should not be living in that situation.  That’s the larger point that has to be recognized and not glossed over.

There are some good people living there, but they’re mostly living in dusty hovels, shacks, and ragged tents with no running water or on-site restroom facilities–in some ways worse than the situation that two hundred people were just evicted from at Kakaako Waterfront Park, also state land.

The state’s absolute failure to provide better living conditions for those children in Waianae is a glaring failure that cannot be ignored, and certainly should not be romanticized or normalized.

Abdicating all state responsibility while handing management over to one or two people with forceful and charismatic personalities is also fraught with danger.  History has shown us that time and again.

That land is owned by the Department of Land and Natural Resources.  Does the department have any opinion whatsoever on the situation there?  Does the state have any plan at all?  Does anybody even know what the water use and other expenses incurred by the harbor are costing taxpayers?  Nobody seems to even care.

The Waianae camp may represent the best in real grassroots attempts to make do with limited resources and provide safety and social structure in a difficult environment.

But it also represents the worst in government neglect, indecisiveness, and failure.