Homeless? Buy a One-Way Ticket to Hawaii
The state is attracting homeless people from the mainland US by offering food, a bed, and health care for just $3 a day. But not everyone is happy. Of course Obama's alleged home state would support such a socialist program.
Are you a single man struggling with the realities of our shitty economy? Then Honolulu has just the place for you — the Sumner Homeless Men's Shelter, where you can eat chopped beef steak and cake, receive $200 in food stamps and health care coverage, all for $3/day. You can make nearly $40 a day by redeeming cans and plastic bottles (green living!) from the area. Sound too good to be true? It's not! Just thank Hawaii taxpayers, who cover most of the shelter's $2 million annual operating costs. But of course, this being America and all, some people have decided to take advantage of Hawaii's generous offerings. The shelter's executive director, Connie Mitchell, told NPR:
We are a tourist destination that attracts people who are homeless or people who have resources, and that's something that we really can't control," Mitchell says. "But I think that if people do want to take up that particular lifestyle, that it shouldn't be at the public's expense."
Okay, so maybe moving there is a bit drastic if you're not truly homeless, but you could always treat it as a cheap vacation. It would be much better to spend $3 a day than over $200 for some crappy hotel, right? Gary Titleman, a middle-aged former computer programmer, decided to go to Hawaii on a whim:
Well, I was kind of homeless in Flagstaff and Prescott [Arizona], and a guy told me that you could go to Hawaii for $150, so I had some savings and bought a ticket," he says.
Mainland drifters who are kind of homeless, like Titleman, are threatening to ruin the program for the definitely homeless and Connie Mitchell says it's time to crack down. Perhaps a "locals only" policy would work?
I think that we really need to begin to look at who's really homeless - not by choice and by misfortune - and who's really homeless by choice, and have a different solution for the two different populations."
Titleman found a one-way ticket from Arizona to Honolulu for $150. Get in there while you still can!