Six Shifts a Week, Nowhere to Sleep
Article excerpt
Anderina Petero and her 21-year-old daughter, Marianeina, clock out from their overnight shift at Jack in the Box at 7 am with nowhere to go. Working six shifts a week between them, the mother-daughter pair are caught in Hawaii's escalating family homelessness crisis, employed but unable to afford housing in a state where rental costs have soared beyond the reach of low-wage workers. Their story illuminates a brutal gap: full-time work that fails to cover basic shelter, forcing families to live in cars or makeshift accommodations despite steady paychecks. Hawaii's affordable housing shortage has transformed homelessness from a crisis of unemployment into one of economic precarity.
Inside Hawaii’s Rising Family Homelessness Crisis
At 7 am, Anderina Petero and her 21-year-old daughter, Marianeina, watch the sunrise as their overnight shift at Jack in the Box comes to an end. Anderina and her daughter are not in any rush to leave.
The Handi-Van, Honolulu’s transit service for people with disabilities, isn’t due to pick them up for another hour. As they waited for their long ride back to a homeless shelter in Wai’anae, at the opposite end of the island, they shared their story.
Hawaii’s PIT Count: The Numbers Behind the Crisis
The Petero Family is just one example of the 4,539 homeless people counted on January 25, 2026. This number is only slightly higher than the 4,494 counted in 2024; however, trends remain mixed and, in some cases, alarming. For example, while there has been a 20% decrease in unsheltered homeless individuals since 2024, as well as a 35% increase in those who are sheltered, family homelessness shot up almost 20% since 2024, and a whopping 43% since 2022.
As of last year, Hawaii is also tied for the highest share of homeless youth alongside the District of Columbia, Oregon, New York, and Alaska, with the smallest share of youth with a high school diploma. The Petero family puts a face on those numbers.
Anderina and Marianeina, along with the rest of their family, were evicted from their apartment in October 2024 after their rent increased. Now the family is split up across the island.
Anderina’s youngest son, who is developmentally disabled, was placed in a care home in Ewa Beach. Another son and his girlfriend moved to a Catholic Charities shelter in Waikiki, and Anderina and Marianeina are staying at the Pai’olu Kai?ulu Wai?anae shelter.
Unhoused Homelessness Has Doubled on Oahu Over the Last Decade
The unsheltered homeless population has continued to grow year after year, doubling between 2014 and 2024. In 2014, the majority of those experiencing homelessness in Oahu were in shelters. By 2024, nearly two-thirds of homeless people on Oahu were unsheltered.
Homelessness continues to surge and remains confined to the West side of the island, in Ewa Beach and Kapolei, where it has increased by 42%, and along the Waianae Coast, where the largest unsheltered communities reside. It’s important to note that while the Waianae Coast has the largest unsheltered community, there are too few emergency shelters in the area.
Oahu officials have implemented a variety of strategies to reduce homelessness over the last few years.
“The state has committed money to fly homeless people who are originally from other states back to places on the mainland where they have family,” Homelessness Coordinator John Mizuno said.
Additionally, the state opened several Kauhale shelters, a shelter model inspired by traditional Native Hawaiian village living. City officials pledged to open these community-focused shelters rapidly within 6 months, which is critical as more than half of Oahu’s homeless population is Native Hawaiian.
Visible Homelessness Is Bad for Business (and Tourism)
While culturally appropriate, proactive solutions are on the table, Hawaii also struggles with NIMBYs (not-in-my-backyard). Visible homelessness is met with little care or compassion from both residents and tourists.
“I didn’t expect it,” visitor Aiden Moffett said in April. “I thought it would be a nicer area, cleaner. Then you get people like that, who affect the area, make it look trashy.”
Guests at the Hale Koa Hotel call homeless encampments “ghetto” in reviews on TripAdvisor. One review by a tourist from Santa Clarita, California, said in their April 16 post, “Need to (get) rid of ghetto tents on beaches,” adding, “This year for the first time, homeless tents line the beach. Imagine renting the highest-rate room and stepping out on the lanai to a view of a beach gone ghetto. Shame on you, Hawaii. Your biggest revenues come from tourism. Literally thousands of other vacation destinations exist.”
In Chinatown, some business owners have found a “new weapon” to get rid of homeless people camping in front of their properties: leaf blowers.
Affordability Is Causing Homelessness in Hawaii, Just Like Everywhere Else
Anderina has worked at the Jack in the Box for 14 years, and for the last 12 years, on the overnight shift. Anderina and her daughter tell reporters they’ve worked six graveyard shifts in a week.
The Handi-Van arrives by 8:15, and Marianeina helps her mom into the vehicle. She’s limping due to the severe gout in her knees. They pay the $2.25 fare and take their seats at the very back. “It’s not hard; it’s just tiring,” Marianeina said.
While there is no one face of homelessness, the Petero family is a common, realistic one. It’s not like the stereotypes that claim homelessness is a choice or that people are lazy and don’t want to work. It’s the opposite: a mother and daughter working 6 overnight shifts and still not earning enough to live.
The ride took an hour and a half, but Anderina and Marianeina are finally “home.” In just an hour, they have to get back on the Handi-Van for their appointment with Work Hawai’i in town.
“In my country (Micronesia), we don’t pay,” Anderina said, referring to rent. “We sleep free, we eat free. We had our own land, we built our own house, we have our own ocean, we fish, we get food, we eat breadfruit,” she said, describing a different time, a different place.