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Testimony for Support for Homelessness & Housing Funding 9/14/26
Submitted by Jane Tollefsrud
Dear Hawaii Council Members,
Thank you for your continued support for the Homelessness and Housing Fund, helping our
local population to be able to afford housing.
As a senior citizen, this issue is particularly alarming. My husband and I have worked our entire
lives, but at 73 years old, are still renting our cottage. We have both worked on-island since
2010, but still cannot afford to buy. We lost our business to Covid. Now, our only income is
Social Security. Prices keep escalating. The current administration keeps chopping benefits.
We look to our future not with confidence, but instead, with great trepidation. It would not
take much in the way of challenges &/or a disaster to make us candidates for homelessness.
OMG! NO ONE imagines their future as alone, and living out on the streets! Yet, we see many of
our fellow residents sleeping in doorways, pushing carts, covering a few possessions under a
tarp. There is not only a loss of home; there is a loss of dignity, and of hope.
Please continue to support those less fortunate with programs that offer shelter, housing,
rental assistance, (physical & mental health) supportive services, and outreach programs.
Thank you for legislative programs that support our community with empathy, and compassion.
Respectfully submitted,
Jane Tollefsrud
15-1543 Beach Rd. Keaau, HI 96749
(808) 315-0808