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<\/a>\u00a9 Joe Philipson 2012<\/p><\/div>\n
For a community that relies so heavily upon tourism revenues, this doesn\u2019t bode well. People don\u2019t like to vacation alongside homelessness. In the state\u2019s largest newspaper, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell wrote, \u201cWe can\u2019t let the homeless ruin our economy<\/a> and take over our city\u201d (June 2014). \u201cIt\u2019s time,\u201d he said, \u201cto declare a war on homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n In the intervening months, Caldwell has developed an approach he calls \u201ccompassionate disruption\u201d to address this \u201ccrisis.\u201d \u201cIf we let it be convenient to sleep, for example, on these sidewalks in Waikiki or parks around the island, it just means that those activities continue, and we don\u2019t get people into permanent housing to be treated and made better,\u201d Caldwell said<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is the \u201cdisruption\u201d part of the strategy: Police have stepped up enforcement of laws that already exist<\/em> that restrict homeless people\u2019s access to public space. They\u2019re giving out tickets and arresting people for sleeping in parks at night and for being \u201csidewalk nuisances,\u201d and they are seizing people’s unattended personal property<\/a>. At the same time, Caldwell\u2019s administration has passed new legislation<\/a> (October 2014) that would make it illegal to sit down\/lie down on public property, and that would attach a $1000 fine to public urination\/defecation (a frequent problem for homeless people without 24-hour public restroom facilities).<\/p>\n This kind of lawmaking\/law enforcement is not unique to Honolulu. Indeed, advocates have documented a trend toward \u201ccriminalizing\u201d homelessness<\/a> in the United States for some time. A similar trend has impacted people trying to alleviate homelessness. Just this week, several people were charged in Florida for serving food to homeless people<\/a> in a public park.<\/p>\n It’s hard for me to think of these kinds of actions as \u201ccompassionate.\u201d<\/p>\n To disrupt<\/a> is \u201cto break apart, to rupture, to throw into disorder.\u201d The idea behind Caldwell\u2019s strategy appears to be to make it so uncomfortable to be homeless that one would have to be \u201ccrazy\u201d to not seek help. What Caldwell seems to be missing is that that\u2019s already true of homelessness. It has never really been terribly convenient to sleep on sidewalks or in parks. It is also not as easy as one might think to find effective help. Homelessness is already often a state of disorder; it is itself a state of disruption. These efforts work to make already undesirable, chaotic conditions even more undesirable.<\/p>\n How, then, might it be \u201ccompassionate\u201d to seize people\u2019s personal property and make life on the streets even harder? How does Caldwell frame disruption as a positive strategy?<\/p>\n Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Honolulu, HI. \u00a9 Ed Morita 2012<\/p><\/div>\n First, Caldwell\u2019s rhetoric surrounding his \u201ccompassionate<\/em> disruption\u201d policies frame homeless people as pitiable, and in need of guidance. \u201cI think it is incredibly cruel to just drive by homeless folks and ignore them as if they don\u2019t exist \u2013 those who have mental challenges and addictions \u2013 and say let them fend for themselves,\u201d Caldwell said.<\/p>\n Here, he reduces a highly diverse homeless population to people with \u201cmental challenges and addictions,\u201d calling into question their decision-making abilities. The problem, Caldwell continually implies, is not that there aren\u2019t enough services (there aren\u2019t), but that people aren\u2019t choosing to use them. It is compassionate to help people get the services they need. It is compassionate to force people to do \u201cwhat\u2019s best for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Secondly, the rhetoric of \u201ccompassionate disruption\u201d portrays housed people who \u201chelp\u201d homeless people as good citizens. It is what \u201ccivilized people do and it is what Americans do.\u201d This, of course, implies that Caldwell\u2019s policies are \u201chelp,\u201d and that one should feel both civilized and patriotic for supporting these policies. As \u201ccompassionate disruption\u201d makes the audience feel pity for homeless people, it makes them feel good about not \u201cjust driv[ing] by homeless folks.\u201d Conversely, people who don\u2019t support these policies (i.e., advocates working for alternatives), and homeless people themselves, are represented as less \u201cAmerican,\u201d less civilized.<\/p>\n Third, Caldwell\u2019s repeated turn to \u201ccompassionate disruption\u201d is paired with policies that appear to reward homeless people for seeking help. Honolulu has begun to allocate millions of dollars to a Housing First plan that aims to house a fraction of the city\u2019s homeless population (estimates vary). It certainly appears compassionate to provide housing to homeless people, especially housing with \u201cno strings attached,\u201d as the Housing First model demands.<\/p>\n But these apparent rewards work to mask other troubling policies. The number of tickets issued on behalf of \u201ccompassionate disruption\u201d in just the first six months of 2014 is more than three times the largest estimate of Housing First apartments projected to be created in Honolulu over the next several years. Caldwell is also currently considering a plan to \u201crelocate\u201d a portion of the city\u2019s homeless population to a camp on Sand Island, the site of a former Japanese internment camp<\/a>, and former home to ash and solid waste dumps<\/a> as part of his strategy.<\/p>\n The rhetoric of \u201ccompassionate disruption\u201d serves as a reminder that rhetoric has very real material consequences. How we talk about homelessness, and about helping, influences the policies we establish to address these issues and the ways we respond to people living in states of disruption. Caldwell\u2019s policies have been gaining steam in the public and in the legislature, even as advocates resist. As they do so, they help to define what \u201ccompassion\u201d looks like on Oahu, and maybe even beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the island of Oahu, Hawaii, approximately 4,700 people are experiencing homelessness. More than a third of them are unsheltered. The city of Honolulu, along its deep blue ocean waves and bright, sandy beaches, has one of the nation\u2019s highest … Continue reading ![\"](\"http:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Caldwell_EdMorita.jpg\")
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