They're Not Stupid

Two people sleeping at Kuhio Beach, Waikiki

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser runs an evergreen headline (right):

East Honolulu’s percentage of unsheltered homelessness in 2022 has grown to 24%, or 575 of the 2,355 unsheltered homeless people recorded during the March 10 Point-in-Time count, a gain of 6 percentage points from the 2020 count and a 10-percentage-point rise from the 2019 count.

The article covers the usual subjects/solutions of building shelters, buying unused land, increasing rental assistance, and lamenting the high cost of housing.

But the interesting part of the story to your humble Honolulu-born blogger is that the homeless population is migrating from the residential and industrial sections to East Honolulu, which includes Waikiki.

And why not? if you are going to be homeless, you may as well live in a tent on the nice white-sand beaches that tourists pay $thousands to see; there's a better chance that a few will slip you a few dollars on Kalakaua Avenue than on North King Street. Some homeless may be mentally ill, but they're not stupid.

Related: economist Scott Sumner uses similar logic in explaining why the homeless prefer to live in high-cost California: "homeless people in Arkansas are already homeless, so [by moving to LA] they benefit from all of the positive factors that make LA a desirable place to live, without the drawback of paying high prices for an apartment."