Honolulu Police Department cruisers lined Bishop Street Monday as officers escorted firefighters and emergency medical crews into Union Plaza, where paramedics tried to reach a person on the top floor of the nine-story downtown building. Some people apparently threw items at officers during the response, a sign of how raw tensions have become between tenants and the building’s owners.
On Monday, according to Hawaii News Now, police were called to the downtown apartment building to protect firefighters and EMS crews during the medical call, with patrol cars lining the street as crews worked their way up the building. About 25 tenants remain in Union Plaza, the outlet reports, down from the dozens who once lived there. Trash lined the alley behind the building, and residents said power and water shutoffs have hit the property repeatedly over the past year.
The scene is the latest flashpoint in a feud that has simmered since at least last fall, when tenants say they received an eviction notice giving them just four days to leave their homes, citing air-conditioning failures, elevator malfunctions and electrical hazards as health and safety concerns, according to an earlier Hawaii News Now report. The building’s owner later clarified that only about a dozen tenants were actually under court orders to move out that Tuesday afternoon.
Eviction Notices and Move-Outs
The earlier report also said all tenants would eventually have to leave.
All tenants will eventually have to leave.
Nine Flights of Stairs
Power shutoffs have affected the property, and tenant Garrett Canullo has had to walk up and down nine flights of stairs with the elevator out of service. About 25 tenants remain in Union Plaza, down from the dozens who once lived there.
Hawaii law places limits on how far a landlord can go to push tenants out. Under HRS §521-74.5, a landlord may not recover or take possession of a dwelling unit through the willful interruption or reduction of running water, hot water, electricity, gas or another essential service, contrary to the rental agreement or state law.
Residents Say They Have Nowhere Else to Go
Some Union Plaza residents have said plainly that they have nowhere else to go. Tenant Matthew Mendoza said shelters are packed and overrun — they’re all full, underscoring why so many have stayed despite the deteriorating conditions.
That strain fits into a broader housing picture on Oʻahu. The island’s 2026 Point in Time Count identified 4,539 people experiencing homelessness, a figure the city says is nearly unchanged from 2024, though it also reported a 20% drop in unsheltered individuals, according to the City and County of Honolulu. A 2026 state legislative committee report separately warned that, without enforceable safeguards, housing redevelopment too often results in involuntary displacement of existing tenants.
For now, the standoff between the remaining residents and the building’s owners continues, with Monday’s medical call the latest sign of how volatile the situation at Union Plaza has become.
