Homeless live on the beach in Hawaii

[kskiska]

WAIANAE, Hawaii — Bert Bustamante and his family look as if they are enjoying a vacation at the beach, with kids swimming in the ocean, fish frying on the grill and radio music floating in the air.

A closer look, though, reveals the truth: Life on the beach is about all Bustamante and his neighbors have.

They are homeless in paradise.

(snip)

Some end up on the beach because of drug problems, mental illness, sudden misfortune or simple economic necessity. Some have jobs in recycling centers, restaurants or hotels but do not make enough to rent an apartment or buy a house on Hawaii's main island, where the median price for a single-family home is $635,000. Others simply want to live this way.

Many say living out in the sun beats a cold patch of concrete in an alley downtown.

"If somebody would come out here and take my family to somewhere we could afford it, I would take that opportunity," says the 48-year-old Bustamante, who has been living in Nanakuli Beach Park since last fall. "Life is good out here, but I still don't want to be here. I don't belong here."

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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/ap/nation/4178150

[Monkeyman]

1. North Shore has been a place where a lot of Homeless show up

And of Course the New Replug Gov. wants them gone. That burns my butt 1/3 of all the homeless are the men and women who served in the Military again its use them an toss them into the garbage

[gizmo1979]

2. How cool is that.

Beach front veiw 0 dollars.Look on the rich guys face when he sees you on his beach,priceless.

[Catherine Vincent]

3. I'm telling you. If I were to be homeless, it would be there.

And enjoy it until some think they are an eye sore.

[gizmo1979]

5. I would so be there!

[Beausoir]

4. Kahului began "cleaning up" a homeless community last year.

The sanitation is non existant. No fresh water, no toilets, etc.

The problem is...where are these people going to go? Even though the city said they weren't punishing anyone, just trying to remove the environmental hazards of raw sewage, there was absolutely no where else for these people to go.

[bhikkhu]

6. It only makes sense...

if you are going to be homeless, why not do it somewhere pleasant. It was always a mystery to me the number of homeless in NYC, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, etc.

When I was younger I worked for a time at a 7-11 in Santa Cruz, graveyard shift. Many homeless there, for a variety of reasons, but chiefly for the beauty and friendliness of the place, I imagined.