ASSOCIATED PRESS Saturday, October 17, 2015, 1:19 AM
CATHY BUSSEWITZ/AP
Loveleen Mori, 27, a homeless woman living in a large encampment in the Kakaako neighborhood of Honolulu, holds her dog as she tries to figure out where to bring her belongings as city officials start to sweep the camp on Oct. 8. Hawaii’s governor declared a state of emergency in the state Friday in response to the growing numbers of homeless people in the state.
HONOLULU — Hawaii Gov. David Ige has declared a state of emergency to deal with the state’s homelessness crisis just 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.”
CATHY BUSSEWITZ/AP