Decommissioned Navy Ship Sought for Floating Homeless Shelte

[pirtybirdy]

Decommissioned Navy Ship Sought for Floating Homeless Shelter
Tuesday, September 11, 2007

HONOLULU — Many retired Navy ships have been turned into museums, but community groups here are hoping for what military officials say is a first: turning a decommissioned vessel into a floating homeless shelter.

The 642-foot (195-meter) destroyer tender Acadia was built in 1981 and sailed around the world several times with a crew of 1,500 before it was decommissioned in 1994. In January, Navy officials decided to dispose of, sell off or give away the vessel, which is docked at Pearl Harbor. Most ships are used for scrap or training after they are retired.

"Land is a high commodity. We live on a rock," the Rev. Gary Shields, director of the Victory Ohana Prison Fellowship, told The Honolulu Advertiser. "Hawaii has to do something different and out of the box. And this is out of the box."

A coalition of called the Acadia Acquisition Committee is negotiating with the state for a place to put the ship. Its proposal calls for Acadia to start housing people as early as May 2009.

Organizers are trying to determine how much the program would cost but are expecting to spend $2 million just to get the ship ready for basic accommodations such as air conditioning, revamped bunks and bedrooms.

Homelessness is a growing problem in Hawaii, as low-income families faced some of the highest living costs in the nation. The number of unsheltered homeless counted at seven areas on Oahu in January was 3,750, up 28 percent from a year ago.
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This is a good idea only if the boat doesn't go out to sea. If it goes out to sea, then I say that is so wrong. That traps people on the boat and doesn't allow them to leave of their free will. It's good for a place to sleep at night.

[Mandy]

In the UK, they have turned ships into prisons .. so this is along the same line of thought.

Of-course, not the cruise ships (post-Rita/Katrina)

[faceless]

It's good they're doing something, but why don't they just build cheap housing, potentially employing some of the people who are homeless as the labour force?

[Mandy]

Easier to guard a ship, and if the occupants ever got unruly, you can simply taken then to another area. Think of it as a concentration ship.

[faceless]

yeah, it was a rhetorical question really - obviously they just want rid of the problem. I can imagine it ending up like that massive tug full of rubbish that floated about the sea for years because no one would take responsibilty..

[pirtybirdy]

Is there such thing as cheap housing anymore? I live in a suburb where everywhere you look they are building more and more "luxury" condos or apartments. meanwhile, nobody can even afford to buy a run down "shack". It's ludicrous. Not only do they not build affordable housing to the working class, they don't build housing for those who are down on their luck. I'd like to know when will people get pissed off finally and say "enough is enough".

[Mandy]