A Look At How the City's Storing Homeless Property

Michael Levine/Civil Beat

HALAWA — The ground is made of rocks, and the 32 large green plastic bins are stored in a fenced-in area. Some are overflowing with stuff, and all have a piece of paper taped to the top identifying what's inside. A Subway cup — presumably belonging to a city employee — sits on top of one bin.

Nearby, four strollers and a bike that couldn't fit lie on the ground.

In the two weeks since the government started to enforce the new law attempting to clear personal property from city sidewalks, it's collected more than three dozen large plastic bins of homeless people's belongings.

What's happened to all that stuff?

Civil Beat and KITV4 went to the Halawa Corporation Yard today to find out.

As a condition of the tour, we agreed to keep the exact location of the bins under wraps as a security precaution. When the Department of Parks and Recreation stored personal items under a different city law, there were break-ins. Suffice it to say that the bins are in an inaccessible area at the yard, far from the front entrance on Iwaena Road. We were in a restricted area where members of the public are not allowed.

Two individuals whose belongings were impounded on Jan. 10 — the first day of enforcement around Moiliili Baseball Field, Old Stadium Park and Pawaa In-Ha Park — already came to claim their items. They didn't wait long — one came on Jan. 11, and one on Jan. 12, according to Tyler Sugihara, chief of the Department of Facility Maintenance's Road Maintenance Division.

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