Letters to the editor: 11-24-19

Hawaii Communist Party: Homeless need homes

The recent introduction by Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Homes For All Act 2019, should occasion not only public support but especially the support of the entire Hawaii Congressional delegation.

Homelessness is not a problem that, like a cold, will resolve itself. Politicians have become as skilled as circus performers juggling one proposal after another for our entertainment while the crisis deepens. And it deepens not only in Hawaii and many mainland cities, but it risks worsening further with the struggle many working renters face from being priced out from their apartments.

The homeless do not need more studies. They do not need outreach. They need homes, and only a human-centered economy will give them homes. Those housed need the security they will not be gentrified onto the streets by market-rate rents. Working people can no longer tolerate the fiction of “affordable housing,” since for many of us these are driven by market rates and beyond our stagnant incomes.

These goals are incompatible with a housing market totally monopolized by private, profit-hungry interests. To succeed, they demand our economy put the poor and working people as priorities.

The state and federal governments must recommit to building public housing and imposing rent controls. Rep. Omar’s legislation goes a long way to getting us to this goal.

Besides the recent Convention of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) making defeating Trump a key priority in this upcoming election season, we in the Hawaii Club of the CPUSA have made the issue of homelessness in Hawaii one of our main focuses. We not only see the growing numbers of homeless but also are ourselves affected as renters.

Lowell B Denny, CPUSA Hawaii Club chair

Kailua-Kona