经济学人492:流浪夏威夷 为迎合游客当地人付出沉重代价

 　　Homelessness in Hawaii

　　流浪夏威夷

　　Paradise lost

　　失乐园

　　Catering¹ to tourists comes at a hefty price for locals

　　为迎合游客当地人付出沉重代价

　　THE sun is setting on Waikiki Beach, and Koa still has a few hours before his 9pm shift cleaning the food court at the Ala Moana mall. “I'm trying to better myself,” he says, but being homeless makes this tough. He finishes work at 3am, well past curfew at most shelters, and police keep people off the beach from 2am to 5am.

　　维基基海滩，日暮西沉。Koa是阿拉莫阿拉购物中心美食街的保洁，现在距他9点的换班还有几个小时。“我试图不断提升自我” ，Koa称，但是无家可归的现状让这种提升举步维艰。他结束工作一般就是凌晨3点，绝大多数的庇护所早已宵禁，凌晨2点至5点警察也不允许人们在海滩逗留。

　　夏威夷.jpg

　　Hawaii has one of the worst rates of homelessness in the country. Though its jobless rate is below 5%, pricey housing keeps even many workers on the streets. The median monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Honolulu is more than $1,800—one of the highest in America.

　　夏威夷的无家可归率在全美也是颇有名气，是最严重之一。尽管该地区的失业率低于5%，但是昂贵的房价让更多的工薪阶层无家可归。火奴鲁鲁两室的商品房房租中值也超过1800美元，是美国房租最高的地区之一。

　　On the island of Oahu, where three-quarters of Hawaii's homeless live, sleeping rough has just got rougher. On December 2nd Honolulu's mayor, Kirk Caldwell, signed a bill that bans people from sitting or lying on the busiest public pavements between 5am and 11pm. Those who do so can be fined up to $1,000 and jailed for up to 30 days. This is part of a plan that Mr Caldwell calls “compassionate disruption”. The aim, he says, is to get the homeless into shelters. Businesses in Waikiki, the centre of Hawaii's $14.5 billion tourism industry, support the policy.

　　在欧胡岛，夏威夷75%无家可归者聚集的地方，露宿变得更加艰难。12月2日，火奴鲁鲁市长柯克·卡德维尔签署了一项禁令，禁止无家可归者在早上五点至晚上十一点这一时间段在最繁华的街道逗留。若有人违反这项规定将罚款1000美元拘留30天。这是卡德维尔所谓的“富有同情心的瓦解”计划的一部分。他声称，目的是让无家可归者居有定所。维基基的企业，夏威夷核心产业价值145亿美元的旅游业支持该项政策。

　　Similar crackdowns can be seen around the country, even as the stock of affordable² housing—defined as costing no more than 30% of a family's income—declines. (Nearly 13% has been lost since 2001.) Laws banning camping, sleeping in cars, begging and loitering in public spaces are increasingly common, according to the National Law Centre on Homelessness & Poverty. In the past two years, more than 20 cities have made it illegal to feed homeless people in public.

　　尽管经济适用房（定义为购房款仅占家庭收入30%的住房）的股票价格下降，类似的“镇压”在整个美国随处可见（自2013年以来，将近13%的人失去自己的房子）。根据处理无家可归及贫困事务的国家法律中心的信息，禁止人们在公共场所露营、以车为家、乞讨、游荡的法律越来越常见。在过去的两年，超过20个城市认定在公共场所为无家可归者提供食物为非法行为。

　　Such laws are counterproductive, says Jerry Jones, the director of the National Coalition³ for the Homeless, an advocacy group. Otherwise law-abiding people end up with criminal records, making it harder for them to get back on their feet. A night in jail can cost three times more than a night in a shelter. Honolulu's ban on rough sleeping has made the homeless more transient and harder for social-service agencies to find. Many are sleeping at the airport, ensuring that they are the first thing visitors see.

　　国家流浪者联合会（一个倡导团体）的主管杰里·琼斯称这样的法律智慧产生反作用力。不然，遵纪守法的人们最终将会被逼犯罪，使他们自力更生难上加难。在监狱里呆一晚的花销是庇护所的3倍。火奴鲁鲁有关露宿的禁令让无家可归者流动性更大，社会服务机构更难找到他们。许多无家可归者谁在机场，确保他们是游客们最先看到的事物。

　　Several cities have reduced homelessness by using a different approach, called Housing First. Whereas typical schemes aim to get homeless people “housing ready”—that is, off drugs and in work—before placing them in homes, Housing First provides the home up front and then delivers the support needed to stay there. This saves money, says Matthew Doherty of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, as the homeless otherwise tend to ricochet between expensive services, such as jails, emergency rooms and detox centres. A study from Los Angeles found that the public saves over $27,000 a year for every person in such a programme.

　　有几个城市采用一种截然不同的措施，即“住房优先”项目来减少无家可归人群。特定的计划已实施从而让无家可归者在得到住房前具备“有房资格”，即没有疾病且有工作。与此同时，住房优先项目预先提供住房，之后为人们顺利入住提供必要的支持。美国无家可归者跨机构委员会的马修·道尔蒂称，这样更省钱。否则，这些无家可归者将会在教委昂贵的服务机构间奔波，比如监狱、急诊室以及戒毒中心。洛杉矶的一项研究发现在该项住房优先项目中，一人接受该项目国家将至少节省27000美元。

　　Even in Hawaii, officials are taking steps towards a Housing First plan. In Honolulu, Mr Caldwell has promised $3m to house 100 of the city's homeless and another $43m for more housing. But the city has offered few details, and the new homes will not be ready for years. In the meantime, there is talk of sending the homeless to an encampment on nearby Sand Island—far from the tourists of Waikiki.

　　甚至在夏威夷，官员们也正在采取措施实施住房优先计划。在火奴鲁鲁，卡德维尔承诺将为该市100个无家可归者提供300万美元住房基金，另支出4300万美元提供更多的住房。但是该市并未提供更多的细节，并且新的住房何时竣工入住也要好几年。同时，也有人声称将这些无家可归者送到邻近沙岛的露营地，那个远离维基基游客视线的地方。

1 catering   

n. 给养

参考例句：

• Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
• Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的？

2 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。