Page 2 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - Oct 26, 2022

2 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK OCTOBER 26, 2022
MHome, Sweet Hope
uch like there are many variations of the colors
The year I was 10, I fell in love with adeskset.Ithada pink-flowered pencil hold- er, a little pink stapler with tiny staples and a cardboard blotter.
my life to be perfect. Noth- ing happened. I was still me, and neither I nor my life was perfect.
blue and red, there are also many nuances to home-
Many times, I have learned this same lesson of thinking a particular object would complete life, and discovering it failed to fulfill its promise. Now as a priest, I teach about God’s love for each of us, a love so great that we can never be separat- ed from it, no matter what. I am loved by the One who created me because I am me, because I am made in the image of that love. It’s a love that doesn’t depend on what I do, on what I have or even on what I believe.
makes me belong and feel at home in the world. It doesn’t make life perfect, but it makes life perfectly grounded.
Jennifer Latham, an Epis- copal priest in the Diocese of Hawai‘i, serves as an as- sisting priest at Holy Nativ- ity Church in ‘Āina Haina. She loves to run, hike, and spend time outdoors with her family and friends.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Lynne Johnson and Robin Stephens Rohr.
lessness. To oversimplify by labeling the homeless as a single homogenous group is misinformed and will lead to more frustration for all parties involved. So, what then to do?
Wow, if only I had this, I thought, I would be so orga- nized and could really con- centrate on my homework. With that thought in mind, I started my Christmas letter: “Dear Santa, please bring me the desk set on page 46 of the Sears catalog, the one with the pink flowers.”
If you’re going to discuss homelessness locally, you proba- bly should look first at the actual housing availability picture. Soon, moving some short-term illegal rentals into long-term local rentals may help those able to pay “reasonable” rents, but we need more out-of-the-box thinking so that we don’t keep kicking this can (and individuals) down the road. Some great work has been accomplished locally, but we need more.
California announced last year that it would retrofit pan- demic-vacated shopping mall spaces and empty big-box retail locations into housing units. Obviously, this involves legis- lative work in conjunction with builders, planners, realtors, etc., but it’s worth delving into.
As Christmas approached, I imagined how perfect life would become as soon as I had the coveted desk set.
On the homeless front, we have innovative villages, com- munities, mini-housing areas, and more in place and/or on the drawing board. A local real estate executive asked me recently, “What about setting up trailer parks and importing RVs for housing?” Recreational vehicles might be available at discount prices now that the pandemic has subsided (we hope), and wanderlust has diminished among those tired of being cooped up on the mainland. Could a consortium of benefactors, landowners, infrastructure departments (water, sewage), shipping companies, etc., brainstorm and bring a bunch of these ready-to-inhabit homes to Hawai‘i?
On Christmas morning, I found under the tree a pres-
There are no strings at- tached. A love like this
If Only I Had That ...
If you are really a product of a materialistic universe, how is that you don’t feel at home there? — C.S. Lewis
When she was young, the author learned that often the physical things we desire don’t satisfy us.
ent marked for me. Inside, there it was with its pink flowers. I was so excited! What I had wished for and wanted to hold in my hands for so long was mine. I hur- ried to my room and set it up, putting all my pencils and pens into the holder and placing the stapler out, ready to go. And then I waited for
with Jennifer Latham
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Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column, and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest). Answers are on page 11
RATING: GOLD
And finally, check out Medicine Hat, Alberta, a small Ca- nadian town that pledged years ago to “cure” homelessness. While it’s seen some backsliding during the pandemic, it has used the housing-first model that other large American cities have used to give people hope, as well as a home. The theory is that providing a home first gives those in need a sense of security, pride and purpose — then their other problems can be dealt with. And no, it’s not a freebie; tenants pay. Lon- don, Ontario, apparently did great work dealing with veteran homelessness through housing first — yet one more source to contact.
RVs, shopping malls, local rentals reclaimed from visiting short-term tenants, housing first — it’s time to fully explore real-world examples of how other locations deal with home- lessness and immediate housing needs. No single answer can solve all of the issues, but there is hope, opportunity and real success stories.
Think about it.
john@thinkaboutithawaii.com