Lucky you live Hawaii! That is unless you are like Mr. Smith, the beachcomber.

Beachcomber: traveler, wander, loafer, hobo, vagabond, tramp, homeless person.

If you’ve read the fourth Charlie Chan novel, The Black Camel (1929), then you are familiar with “Smith, the beachcomber.” Mr. Archie Smith a hopeful artist returning from the South Seas painting the scenery, got off a passing vessel intending to leave Hawaii. However, he got lulled in by the soft breezes, island life, and unfortunately…too much “Okolehao” (Hawaiian Hooch made from the Hawaiian Ti plant!) He now makes his bed on the beach most nights, except when he can afford a simple one night stay at the Nippon Hotel, a flophouse on Beretania St.

The man to whom he referred shook off the officer’s grip and stepped toward Charlie. “I trust we’re not too late for dinner,” he remarked…His manner was jaunty and debonair, no mean triumph considering his costume. Aside from the hat, which he now clutched in a thin freckled hand, that costume consisted of a badly soiled pair of white duck trousers, a blue shirt open at the throat, a disreputable velvet coat that had once been the color of Burgundy and the remnants of a pair of shoes, through the holes of which peered the white of his naked feet

The Black Camel, 1929

Mr. Smith is a suspect in a murder and plays a prominent part in solving the mystery in that novel (actually a double murder mystery.) Smith has secret information and tries negotiating with another suspect to get enough money to leave the island. In the end, Smith comes clean and spills the beans to Detective Chan. He decides he’ll try and make amends with his family and head back home. Home being Cleveland, Ohio.

Fast forward to 2023. Had The Black Camel been scribed today, Smith might have gotten a free ride back to Cleveland, via the State of Hawaii! This via a bill introduced in the Hawaii House, HB1366 HD1 SD2, would establish a 3-year program to return out-of-state homeless persons to their home state if passed. The goal is to send an additional 500 persons per year back to the mainland and, in so doing, reduce Hawaii’s homelessness by 2,000 people in the next four years.

Today, the Island of Oahu has the most significant per capita homeless population, with 49 homeless individuals per 10,000 residents (2022 statistics.) And many of those homeless were sent over with just a plane ticket and a few dollars in their pocket; either by relatives or state officials. Like “Smith, The Beachcomber,” they immediately find themselves in line each night at a homeless shelter (or on the beach) and without funds to possibly return home.

Homelessness in Hawaii today continues to be one of Hawaii’s most significant and challenging social problems. And homeless encampments all over Oahu are often side-by-side, close by or near tourist sites. Even in “paradise” these people remain the silent minority, lost within society due to social, mental health, or drug related issues–sometimes of their own doing/sometime not.

“Happiness, is not a matter of geography”

Charlie Chan, Keeper of The Keys, 1932, Chapter 18