HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Honolulu City Council passed a resolution this week to urge the State and City administration to prepare for a possible influx of homeless ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, but not everyone feels it’s necessary.
Resolution 24-274 urges the Governor and the Mayor to take action on the homeless and housing crisis ahead of the 2028 summer games.
Honolulu City Councilmember Calvin Say raised the concern upon how other Olympic cities moved out the homeless, like Paris, France and what other states have done in the past.
“You’ve seen that throughout the states, from what has happened with the immigrants from central America that have been shipped to New York, New Jersey, etc. These are the concerns that I have on behalf of the residents of Hawaii,” said Say.
According to 2024 Point in Time data, Los Angeles has a homeless population of more than 73,000.
The resolution states there are more than 100 direct flights from Los Angeles to Honolulu every week. Councilmember Say is worried about the strain on limited resources.
“I’m not being punitive, more in anticipation of ‘can we try to see what maybe what is in store for this county of Oahu,’” said Say. “It’s not against anyone, anybody. It is not about civil rights. It’s about our residents of Oahu also the homeless population that we have in point in time.”
Those who work directly with Hawaii’s homeless say it’s happened here before.
“I wouldn’t say that there’s a concern that the government will ship anyone. At IHS, we do have individuals who do come to us from out of state, but that’s of their own resources,” said Angie Knight, Community Relations Manager with the Institute for Human Services.
With four years until the LA Olympics, there’s certainly action that can be taken now.
“I think that the resolution is just bringing awareness that we do have existing homeless individuals here in our state that we need to assist. So let’s work on them in the same way that we’re asking LA to help their homeless population,” said Knight. “So that’s making sure that there’s beds available, making sure that there are social workers who can help and manage or do case management to help people get housed.”
Governor Josh Green, in a statement, said he appreciated the concerns expressed by the Honolulu City Council about possible displacement of homeless people by officials in California in advance of the 2028 Summer Olympics.
The Governor also assures the Council that his administration is making forward progress in addressing the critical shortage of affordable housing for Hawaii’s people.
He said his office “will be working with officials in California, as well as airlines, to make clear that no person who may be under-resourced should be exported to our state.”