Hawaii’s homeless in crisis

HONOLULU — Hawaii Gov. David Ige has declared a state of emergency to deal with the state’s homelessness crisis days after city and state officials cleared one of the nation’s largest homeless encampments.

The move will help the state speed up the process of building a homeless shelter for families, and the state is considering four possible sites, Ige said at a news conference Friday.

“We are making sure that we have options for those who are homeless to move into an emergency shelter, and the biggest deficit in the system is shelter space for families,” Ige said. “So the emergency proclamation would allow us to stand up shelters for families in an expeditious manner.”

Hawaii saw a 23 percent increase in its unsheltered homeless population between 2014 and 2015, and a 46 percent increase in the number of unsheltered families, according to state homelessness officials.

There were 7,260 homeless people in Hawaii at the latest count, meaning Hawaii has the highest rate of homelessness percapita of any state in the nation.

The new transitional shelter the state is envisioning would house about 15 families at a time.

Two of the sites under consideration are in Kakaako, the Oahu neighborhood where the large homeless encampment was cleared.