HomeMy WebLinkAboutSnedeker, Alice
Tsuneda, Kaci
From:Alice Snedeker <alice.marie.snedeker@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, September 15, 2026 9:38 AM
To:Council Testimony
Subject:***Please Note: This is my 3rd attempt at submitting testimony in support of Bill 192
(the 1st one had typos, the second email appeared to be blacked out and this is the
3rd)
To: Chair and Members of the Hawaii County Council Finance Committee
From: Alice Snedeker
Hearing Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Measure: STRONG SUPPORT for Bill 192 (Homelessness and Housing Fund Extension)
Aloha Chair and Committee Members,
My name is Alice Snedeker, and I am writing to express my urgent support for Bill 192 to extend the Homelessness & Housing Fund
through 2029.
Before these medical respite houses opened, vulnerable people were simply being released from the hospital straight back to the
streets. They no longer needed acute hospital care, but they had absolutely no safe place to recover. This fund fixed that critical gap.
My brother is currently a resident in the HOPE Services medical respite home in Ainaloa. Before entering this program, he was
unhoused and living on the streets. In late June, he was viciously mobbed, sustaining multiple concussions, a fractured skull, a
fractured eye socket, and a broken jaw. He was left unconscious in the hospital for three days, and now suffers from permanent
double vision.
When it came time to discharge him, he could not return to the pavement with a fractured skull. I know my brother prayed, and I
know God heard his prayer, because that is exactly when a bed space opened up for him at the Ainaloa medical respite home.
Because they have nursing staff available 24/7, he has a safe place to heal.
The staff provides essential administrative and logistical coordination. They document his medical appointments, ensure he is
aware of them, and make arrangements for a medical taxi to transport him so he never misses critical care. Having a medical taxi
transport my brother to his necessary appointments helps tremendously because my mother and I are not available to provide
transportation sometimes due to conflicting schedules .. The respite home’s daily oversight is what keeps his recovery on track. They
are also actively providing case management to help him transition into permanent housing.
For my brother, these respite beds are the line between life and death. If he is forced back onto the Streets, the question is not IF he
will die—it is WHEN he will die.
Services cannot provide this vital, 24/7 medical oversight and housing placement on unpredictable funding cycles. They need the
stability of this fund extended through 2029. Please vote YES on Bill 192.
Mahalo,
Alice Snedeker
Hilo,.Hawaii
1