HOMELESS in HAWAII

Even if Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and seems that life is just perfect here, this is not Paradise. There are social problems. Lot of social problems. Especially in the Oahu island, the most populated of in the archipelago. And you can have a feeling of it, if you leave the famous touristic spots. When we got in Oahu we rent a car and we drove over the West shore of the island. Probably the least touristic of all. And there we have seen a lot of homeless. Lot of families live on the beach in camping tents. And from the way the tent are, you can easily figure out that they had been living here for a long time ...... the reason is pretty simple. The cost of real estate here is enormous, especially if you are a native. Lot of people is doing lots of money in the mainland. Is coming here and is buying land and home. And maybe they are using it few weekends a year. Of course the real estate industry sky rockets, and is leaving very little room for the native Hawaiian, who can't afford to buy multi million dollar house. At this point they don't really have a lot of chances. They either leave the paradise, or they are homeless in their land. Most of them leave, some of them decide to stay even if this means live camping on a public beach ... as a tourist I felt guilty to take these pictures, and to be part of their problems ...