Waikiki church resuming lunch ministry after pause to appease city safety concerns

Jul. 23—East Honolulu, including Waikiki, has seen a 71 % increase in unsheltered homelessness since 2019, according to the 2023 Point in Time Count.

Free hot meals for the needy at St. Augustine by the Sea Catholic Church in Waikiki will resume Monday on church grounds in a move to appease Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and others who urged that the social ministry be discontinued due to public safety concerns.

The Rev. Lane Akiona said the church had moved its soup kitchen, known as Aunty Carmen's Kitchen, to the city sidewalks outside of the church during the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought more neighborhood complaints and a visit and request from Blangiardi and Honolulu Police Department officials to stop serving meals at that location.

Akiona said he temporarily paused the program, which has operated for more than 50 years, and consulted with attorneys who said the church had jurisdiction over its own parking lot. The meal service will resume there from 11 a.m. to noon Mondays through Fridays, excluding holidays.

"Aunty Carmen's Kitchen has made a tremendous impact in providing food for the hungry. It also helps parishioners put into action what we believe, " Akiona said. "Sometimes the image of Hawaii is a perfect place and we neglect the societal problems. For us, we feel like we need to deal with the reality, and it's a growing reality."

The conflict between the city and the church comes as East Honolulu, including Waikiki, is working through a post-pandemic rise in homelessness. East Honolulu has seen a 71 % increase in unsheltered homelessness since 2019, which may in part be due to a migration of individuals from Downtown, according to the 2023 Point in Time Count, a federally mandated census meant to provide a snapshot of those experiencing homelessness on a single night in Oahu.

It also follows a highly public effort by Waikiki stakeholders, including tourism officials, police and community members, to address the public safety concerns that emerged as tourism began to recover and more people returned to the district. After a rash of violent crimes in 2021 and 2022, Blangiardi pledged to work with the community and supported the formation of Waikiki Safe and Sound, a crime reduction program that began in September and has a social service component to address quality-of-life issues.

"I believe in my heart that being homeless is not a crime, " Blangiardi said. "I also will tell you that in this administration my No. 1 priority is public safety. All of this is designed as much for local people as for visitors in our efforts to clean this stuff up."

The mayor characterized the city's request that St. Augustine stop providing free lunches to people gathered on the sidewalks and streets of Ohua Avenue as part of its Safe and Sound push. Other recent actions include expanding Waikiki beach closure hours and providing funding for private security to help enforce them. That's on top of the city's efforts to increase legitimate activity at the Kuhio Beach pavilions, which had been spots where troublemakers gathered, as well as a more recent focus on cleaning up the picnic tables on the beach across from the church.

Crime in Waikiki Blangiardi said the administration's latest public safety effort in Waikiki goes back to the summer of 2021 when he brought his entire Cabinet to walk the district to hear the concerns of retailers and hotel owners. One of the hot spots identified during the walk and in later meetings with Waikiki stakeholders, he said, was St. Augustine, where groups of homeless people were camping outside of the church, which is across from the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort and Spa and near residential housing.

The mayor said he approached Akiona in June 2022 and was told that the church needed help because it had been overwhelmed by people who were urinating and defecating in the shrubbery, taunting parishioners and doing other bad things.

Blangiardi said the chief of police and several other officers accompanied him to the meeting to provide support for the church. He said the city took responsibility for the sidewalks around St. Augustine, but noted that a criminal element persisted.

"We knew in the studies that we had done that there tend to be a congregation of these kind of people, the lurkers, hiding out with the homeless population in places like Chinatown and Waikiki, " Blangiardi said.

Akiona opined that the criminal activity corresponds to a general rise in Waikiki crime and not to the church's food ministry.

Blangiardi said he met with Akiona again last month and showed him pictures of people with long criminal histories who were attending the free lunch. He said he told Akiona, "Look, Father, I really think you need to suspend feeding them here on the street."

The city's handling of St. Augustine, which was founded in 1854, and other Safe and Sound measures are prompting community pushback, especially from supporters of the church's ministry. The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii also has expressed concerns.

"Closing our public spaces is not the solution to addressing our homeless crisis, " said Wookie Kim, ACLU Hawaii legal director. "A lot of what is happening based on this trend is the city targeting houseless people and saying you are not allowed to exist in a public space within the city limits."

He called recent actions by the city and Blangiardi regarding the church "deeply concerning."

"Essentially, he's targeting a valuable service provider that is trying to fill a gap in our social safety net. Additionally, it raises questions about whether or not the city through its mayor and the police majors that accompanied the mayor is violating the church's right to freedom of religious expression."

A public safety issue However, the city's public safety push resonates well with other Waikiki stakeholders, who approve Blangiardi's "enough is enough " approach.

Waikiki Improvement Association President Rick Egged said decision-makers for the Royal Hawaiian Beach, which fronts the hotels adjacent to Kuhio Beach, will soon announce that they are changing its closure start to midnight.

"That's because the expanded closure hours have been effective in other parts of the beach, " Egged said. "It is early but we really appreciate all the efforts that the mayor has made to keep close tabs and take action as expeditiously as he can. It's really more of a public safety issue than a homeless issue. We are really starting to see consequences for disobeying the law and committing criminal acts."

Trevor Abarzua, president and executive director of the Waikiki Business Improvement District Association, said Safe and Sound has resulted in an "impressive reduction in crime rates in Waikiki."

Abarzua said Honolulu Police Department statistics show that from the first quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023, Waikiki has seen an 82 % reduction in drug-and alcohol-related offenses ; a 64 % decrease in robberies ; a 41 % drop in criminal property damage cases ; and a 16 % decline in thefts. He said part of the reason is that the Safe and Sound program has led to 155 habitual offenders being restricted from Waikiki.

Abarzua said data from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawaii shows that homelessness along Kalakaua Avenue and the beach have declined from the start of Safe and Sound through May. He said June is expected to show an even greater drop since the city kicked in $450, 000 in post-pandemic recovery funds to hire Matt Levi Security to supply off-duty police officers, who cover shifts from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. seven days a week.

The city's private security contract currently covers six months, but Abarzua said Waikiki stakeholders are hopeful it will be extended, and that the private security detail could be expanded to cover some daytime hours, too.

Blangiardi said the city is monitoring the private security program, but if warranted would consider expanding it in the future. He said the city also will monitor the reopening of St. Augustine's lunch program to ensure public safety is addressed.

An option to go mobile City Managing Director Michael Formby said the mayor never objected to feeding homeless people but rather to the church's "time and place and manner, " the same objection Blangiardi had to River of Life in Chinatown, which has transitioned after closing its meal distribution.

Rann Watumull, president of the board of directors for River of Life, said the nonprofit found greater success after it went mobile upon the ending of its Chinatown meal service in March 2022.

"We've actually exploded in a good way, " Watumull said.

River of Life now has 66 hub events at 39 different locations across the island and has grown its base of volunteers to 3, 100 people, according to Watumull. He said each hub spot serves a single meal and offers "Grace-to-go " snack packs. Greater focus is on providing wrap-around services designed to provide individuals with the support they need to get off the streets.

"In the first six months of this year, we have helped 93 people transition off the streets, " he said, adding that 60 clients earned their high school equivalency diploma and 50 are now serving as volunteers at hub spots.

Watumull said River of Life's mobile model is better suited to the rise in homelessness, as well as those in the population who are struggling with mental illness and /or addiction. Mobile events are limited to 50 people to mitigate community impacts.

"We owned the building in Chinatown so we could have continued, but it is too much pressure for any one community because of the current situation, " he said.

Akiona said that typically only about 50 people come to St. Augustine's weekday lunch program. Turnout is similar at its homeless services program offered Thursdays from 4 to 7 p.m. That program is a one-stop shop where people can meet with outreach workers, take showers, do their laundry, eat, obtain legal advice and get free veterinary care for their pets, he said.

Keeping the events on church grounds "will make them much more controllable, " he said.

St. Augustine's is dedicated to continuing its ministry, Akiona added, and is exploring measures to increase safety, including using private security if warranted.

Building trust Jerry Gibson, president of the Hawaii Hotel Association, said it's up to the church "to decide what's good for them. The people who are homeless that need to eat, I think everyone cares about that. But it is always a challenge when that percentage comes in and are causing problems."

Gibson said he would appreciate the church keeping its meal service and homeless outreach programs on its own grounds and hopes it will consider hiring security as well as cleanup crews.

Akiona pledged to work with Waikiki stakeholders and the city but said the 169-year-old church, which was in the community well before Waikiki became a tourist destination, won't quit helping people.

"We don't check if people have criminal records. If they are hungry, we will feed them, " he said, adding that providing meals actually may reduce crime because hunger may lead to desperation.

Moreover, Akiona said moving homeless people from Waikiki because they don't fit into the tourist image of paradise does not solve the housing crisis.

While there are benefits to mobile homeless programs, Institute for Human Services outreach specialist Sarah Rodrigues said the continuity of a dedicated space provides more chances to build trust.

"We just got one of the guys into the IHS treatment center. It took us seven tries, " Rodrigues said. "We kept coming (to St. Augustine ) and finally the light went on in his head. It helps to have a home base where we can find people."

Jammer Keanu is another IHS success story that is tied to the church lunch program. He had been living unsheltered in Kapahulu for two years when he met Rodrigues and she helped him find housing.

"I got housing within 90 days of coming to the church. I've been in housing for about 10 months, " he said, tearing up. "It's emotional. There's not much to worry about anymore. Before there weren't any safe places. Now I'm real safe, and I have support."