Associated Press
WAILUKU, Maui — Homeless people cleared from an encampment near a Kahului park have sued Maui Mayor Michael Victorino and the county, saying the move was unconstitutional and violated their rights.
Sixty-four people were forced to vacate or face arrest, said the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the lawsuit’s four plaintiffs. Many lost vehicles, clothing and cooking supplies, The Maui News reported.
The lawsuit filed in 2nd Circuit Court asks a judge to declare that each plaintiff’s procedural due process rights and their right to be free from unreasonable search and seizures were violated.
“The county appears to believe that our clients are not entitled to constitutional protections because they are houseless and reside in public spaces,” Wookie Kim, the legal director of the ACLU of Hawaii, said in a news release Tuesday.
A county spokesperson said the county doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
Victorino said in an Oct. 2 column in The Maui News that the encampment was creating hazards for the nearby wastewater treatment facility and Kanaha Pond. He said Amala Place had been reclaimed “as a clean, safe roadway for public access to Kanaha Beach Park.”
“The intervention was necessary to resolve the growing health and safety hazards for both encampment occupants and the community at large,” the mayor wrote.
Maui County and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources began clearing people from the encampment beginning in late September, the mayor said. In less than a week, they removed 58 tons of solid waste and 54 derelict vehicles.
He said outreach workers met regularly with campers and officered social services.
Plaintiff Sonia Davis, a 64-year-old Native Hawaiian woman born and raised on Maui, has been recovering from surgery to treat cancer. She had been unable to afford housing and had been living in Kanaha since her rental assistance funding ran out. Davis has worked hard to fight a methamphetamine addiction and has been sober since completing a rehabilitation program following an arrest in 2019 for possession of drugs, the ACLU news release said.
Fellow plaintiffs Adam Walton, 40, and Lauralee B. Riedell, 48, both house cleaners, had been unable to find a place to live within their budget on Maui and had been living in their car at Kanaha.
