DC finds homes for more than 200 vets in 100 days. Honolulu? Hello…?

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With the help of national organizations like the 100,000 Homes Campaign and the Rapid Results Institute, Veterans NOW set out to get 225 homeless veterans, including 80 who were chronically homeless, into housing in just 100 days. The 100-day metric is a clever approach in a campaign like this because, as [Adam] Rocap [, chief program officer at a local homeless services provider] explained, it’s “long enough to do planning but short enough to be motivated and see measurable results.”

On Thursday, Veterans NOW released its initial results. Despite setting such a lofty goal, in the 100 days between August 9 and November 30, it was able to get 207 veterans into homes, including 96 chronically homeless vets.
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by Larry Geller

So what is wrong with us here in Honolulu? From the pull-quote above, you might assume it’s lack of motivation.

You’d be right.

Our city government would rather spend money carrying out endless raids against those they have forced to live on the edge of the sidewalks. They have enough motivation for that.

One state legislator was moved to take his sledgehammer to the streets to smash up shopping carts and roust anyone sleeping at bus stops in Waikiki. So far, he has been neither charged with a crime nor censured by the state legislature. One would have to assume that the police, the prosecutors and the legislature approve of his approach.

Galvanized by the injustice of a veteran risking his life for his country only to later find himself without a home, a group of agencies and organizations known as Veterans NOW convened in August of last year to develop a plan to put D.C. on track to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015.
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Bolstered by its initial success, Veterans NOW is in the midst of another 100-day goal: housing 190 homeless veterans, including 56 who are chronically homeless, by March 31. With a month still to go, it is already on track to surpass this goal. Thus far, 161 veterans have been housed during this period, 84 of whom had been chronically homeless.

[thinkprogress, In Just 100 Days, DC Finds Homes For More Than 200 Homeless Veterans, 2/28/2014]

Honolulu should not have to wait for a task force to act. As it turned out, the city had no financial commitment to support its Housing First plan—the funds were to come from the sale of public housing—which fell through.

Is Hawaii really the ends of the earth? Is Honolulu the city that can’t?

C’mon, folks, get busy. What has DC got that we don’t have?

Well, motivation, anyway.

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