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Hawaii News

Homeless court gets 4 into


housing
By Dan Nakaso
Posted May 30, 2017
May 30, 2017

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM

Homeless structures line Iwilei Rd to King St.

Oahus new homeless court so far has cleared a backlog of 268 cases since it began
in January and perhaps more important has gotten four homeless defendants
housed, including a chronically homeless man who now has an apartment after nearly
30 years on the street.

The man did not want to be identied, according to his initial caseworker and the city

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Prosecutors Oce. He had been tucked among the homeless on Diamond Head and
later was living on the streets of Waikiki.

He faced 33 court cases for infractions, bench warrants and other nonviolent oenses
dating back to 2005 and was selected for the new Community Outreach Court as its
ocially called where he pleaded no contest to one charge in February as part of a
plea agreement.

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District Judge Clarence Pacarro then sentenced him to four hours of community
service at the Honolulu Zoo, which he completed March 4, according to the
Prosecutors Oce.

This is a success story worth talking about, Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro said in a
statement. Not only were numerous cases and warrants cleared from the judiciary
calendar, this gentleman was able to get into a home with the help of a non-prot
working with Community Outreach Court.

The new court is the brainchild of Kaneshiro, Oahu Public Defender Jack Tonaki and
Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald.

It originally was envisioned to rotate around the island to be closer to where homeless
people congregate and where they could clean up their community for racking up
sometimes dozens of violations, such as urinating in public, being in parks after hours,
loitering and public intoxication.

The Community Outreach Court is now solely based in District Court on Alakea Street
downtown. But the goal to expand it across the island is still being discussed.

In its last session the state Legislature agreed to fund $445,000 for each of the next
two years to provide sta to focus specically on the Community Outreach Court.

So far, 21 defendants accounting for 268 cases have appeared, including three
who have gotten into transitional housing and the man who now has his rst
permanent home in nearly 30 years.

Im really excited about it, said social worker Aashish Hemrajani, an outreach worker

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for the CHOW Project, which stands for Community Health Outreach Work, a nonprot
established in 1993 to curb drug overdoses and diseases related to syringes. Project
workers meet with Community Outreach Court defendants in a witness room on the
seventh oor of District Court.

The aim is to get them connected with the services they need, said Hemrajani.

Hemrajani worked with two of the four defendants who are now housed, including the
man who lived on the slopes of Diamond Head and later Waikiki. He was placed into
an apartment through the citys Housing First program, Hemrajani said.

While the other three were put into temporary housing, Hemrajani said, his client got
higher priority for permanent housing because of his long, troubled history of being
on the street.

He was chronically homeless pretty much his entire adult life and also has mental
health issues and some substance abuse issues, Hemrajani said.

His citations were the result of the criminalization of being homeless, Hemrajani said.
You cant go to the bathroom without getting a ticket for public urination. He had
been harassed by the police quite a bit. So its really great to connect him with services
instead of penalizing him.

Now, in his new apartment in an undisclosed location, hes really doing great,
Hemrajani said. I was there to help him move in, and hes really excited.

Even though its new, the Community Outreach Court is showing great potential to
clear outstanding court cases while getting criminal defendants into housing,
Hemrajani said.

They just need some help, he said.

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