President’s Message

Aloha Chamber members,

Hawaii has the highest per capita homelessness in the nation. Approximately 1,500 are chronically homeless (addiction, mental illness, homeless for more than six months). The cost to the state per homeless person is more than $82,000 per year for healthcare services. This does not include other categories of homelessness, including transitional or episodic. This is hardly sustainable. Urgent action is necessary to prevent the exacerbation of the situation that without coordination, collaboration and partnership, will impact the health of Hawaii’s economy and the livelihood of our people.  

As such, in a continuing effort to elevate awareness of the homeless population and share information on steps that are being taken to address this critical issue, Lt. Governor Josh Green shared his 10 Point Plan: An Initiative on Chronic Homeless at the Chamber’s last Board of Directors meeting. He identifies the Chronic Homelessness Trifecta as the intersection of Poverty, Mental Illness and Drug Addiction. His 10 Point Plan is a multi-prong approach which includes health and human services, temporary and permanent housing, and addiction services. As the Lieutenant Governor stated, “housing is healthcare.”

To prevent the homeless population from continuing to grow, we need to address Hawaii’s high cost of living issues, particularly for many residents who are on the brink of homelessness or one paycheck away. We need to look at what’s driving the cost. And, what we can do to address the issue from a foundational level, rather than with solutions that appear to help, but don’t necessarily move the needle.
 

Laulima & mahalo,

Sherry Menor-McNamara
President & CEO

Advocating for Business

Minimum Wage Bills Heard by Conference Committee

This Friday marks the final decking deadline for legislative bills. All bills must be out of their conference committee referrals by this deadline. The full legislature will have the opportunity to vote on these bills next week before officially ending the 2019 legislative session on Thursday, May 2nd.
 
As the minimum wage bills begin to be heard from their respective conference committees, we want to remind our members that they can still provide input to lawmakers through our action alert. We appreciate our members who have already written in, but encourage everyone to continue to let our lawmakers know how these bills could impact small businesses. Click here to weigh in.

Supporting our Military

MAC to Hold Quarterly Briefing on May 21

Building our Membership

Three Costly Employee Experience Mistakes