Gavin Thornton, co-executive director of the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, said that he doesn’t know what the answer is to alleviate homelessness. His nonprofit group aims to alleviate injustice and inequality in the community.

Oʻahu has a sidewalk sit-and-lie law on the books, but “that hasn’t gotten rid of the homeless,” he said. The homeless people just move somewhere else. If the Maui County law is passed and a homeless person gets thrown in jail, it’s just “a very expensive way to house someone who is homeless,” Thornton said.