KALIHI VALLEY, Hawaii (KHON2) — John Mizuno was appointed as the state’s homelessness coordinator in January 2024 and said he has gotten over 100 homeless individuals to go back to their mainland families.

“To date, we have sent 137 people from the mainland who are houseless back to their families on the mainland, saving taxpayer costs,” Mizuno said. “We make sure their families, their support group will accept them, first of all. Second, they pay for half of the airfare. So, you’re not going to get a one-way ticket to Vegas and just enjoy yourself and buy another ticket back.”

Mizuno and the chair of the House Human Services and Homelessness Committee both said programs from other states send homeless to the Islands, especially in the winter.

“Clearly have never flown before, don’t know what they’re doing. They get to the airport in the Honolulu side and the first thing they do is they need services. So that is definitely something that happens,” Rep. Lisa Marten said.

Marten said implementation of the Return to Home pilot program has been a success.

“Not only are they better off, but then we free up those resources for our local homeless that may also have mental health substance abuse problems,” Marten said.

Other lawmakers on the same Committee said the 137 number is a good start, but could be better.

“But more needs to be done,” Rep. Diamond Garcia said. “There’s too many non-local homeless here that that’s using up our resources, which could be used for local families. We need to pass laws and make sure that that we are protecting our own borders from other states. They can’t be shipping us their problems and expecting our taxpayers to fund the bill.”

Mizuno said every single one of the 137 is a victory and will save about $5 million in taxpayer-funded service fees.

“Next year, three years from now, that number may multiply to three, four or 500 people,” Mizuno said. “We’re going to end up saving millions of dollars for the state of Hawaii and protecting our finite resources for our local homeless.”

The current Return to Home pilot program has funding for the next two years, though Mizuno hopes the legislature adds to the fund in the upcoming session.