Volunteers help 20 homeless locals move into shelters

“County data shows that 96 percent of people who received homeless services last year were Hawaiʻi locals. We’re talking people born and raised here, and long term residents,” Menino said. “I’ve run into old friends who are living in their cars.”

“People are starting to realize the problem isn’t houseless people flying in from outside, it’s housing speculation from outside. That’s what is pricing locals out and pushing them to the streets.”

Of all homes sold in Hawaiʻi County from 2017 to 2020, 42 percent were purchased by out-of-state investors, the highest rate among the counties, according to the Hawaiʻi Budget & Policy Center. What’s more, the center reports that “52 percent of out-of-state owners left their units unoccupied when they or their friends were not using them.”