HONOLULU -- They set up tents by some of Hawaii's best beaches and they use low cost medical services and other government benefits. They take up limited space in homeless shelters.

Hawaii homeless service providers Wednesday appealed to state lawmakers for help with the growing problem of serving homeless coming here on one-way tickets from other states.

The state and homeless service providers are also struggling to serve thousands of Micronesians who under the federal Compact of Free Association are allowed to come to the U.S. without visas, stay as long as they want and use social services.

Professor Sylvia Yuen who has been tracking Hawaii homeless for the University of Hawaii's Center on Family told state lawmakers Wednesday about 30 percent of Hawaii's homeless are from out of state.

"I think when we talk about the burden on services in Hawaii, it is not just on homeless services alone but also on other state agencies such as the police, medical services and the Department of Education," said Connie Mitchell, the head of the Institute For Human Services, one of the state's largest homeless shelter providers.

Mitchell said 25 percent of the men now coming into the IHS shelter are from out of state.

Shelter resident Kevin Morrissey has a story similar to many of the IHS residents. He came to Hawaii seeking change and a better life.

"It was always a dream of mine to come to Hawaii so when I lost my job as a bartender in Ft. Lauderdale, I thought I might find something better here," said Morrissey.

But Morrissey is still out of work and stuck in the homeless shelter without enough money to return home.

"Some of them were homeless before they came here," said Mitchell. "They may have entitlement checks that they cashed in to buy a ticket, a one way ticket to Hawaii. They are not intending to go back very soon. They are going to hang out here and stay a while."

The U.S. government pays for some of the cost for the homeless Micronesians but providers said the reimbursements are not enough, and U.S. officials should realize the seriousness of the problem and pay more.

"Hawaii is being impacted tremendously and horribly," said Kanani Bulawan, of Leeward Housing Coalition.

House Human Services Chairman, Rep. John Mizuno (D) said Wednesday one solution might be for lawmakers to reconsider a bill they rejected in the past to pay homeless the price of a one-way ticket home.

"We think a bill like that would help to address the issue. If they would like to go back home, we would like to send them back on a one-way ticket," said Mizuno.

A similar bill to pay to send the homeless home failed in the State legislature two years ago when critics pointed out it would encourage fraud with homeless using the airline tickets to freely come and go from Hawaii.

But Mizuno said with resources stretched so thinly now in the current poor economy, lawmakers might reconsider.

"The out of state homeless are draining needed resources from our Hawaii resident homeless and that is a concern," said Mizuno.