Where can a kupuna go for help? The mayor’s pal, his former campaign manager, is now making $110,000 a year to help me. At the age of 76 (me), I wish he would. I really need it. If he helps me, he will in turn be helping the taxpayers that I am trying to help. Let me explain my plight.
I receive Social Security of $899 monthly. I earned that by working all my life and salting away funds each quarter of employment. You can tell I worked a lot of “pro bono” jobs for nonprofit charities from how little Social Security I get. I really was never in it for the money, or to become a big shot. Just to help people. Like I’m trying to help other kupuna now.
On Hawaii Island alone there are some 21 different housing projects for poverty-level elderly, and at least 31 for poverty-level families. Each of these is supported in some respect with public funding, usually through HUD and USDA, the housing and agriculture departments of the federal government. But our county Office of Housing &Community Development (OHCD) administers those programs on behalf of the federal government. Or I should say, mis-administers those programs.
One step below the U.S. Supreme Court is the Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. What it says is law is law in Hawaii. But OHCD is choosing to ignore that law. Back in 1974, the 9th Circuit made a ruling that in privately owned housing projects “tenants of [Sec. 8] housing have an objectively justifiable right to low cost housing.” In that case, the landlords applied for and were granted rent increases by their local housing authority. “In neither case were the tenants given notice of the application or an opportunity to participate in the determination of a rent increase.” Tenants challenged this on appeal, and the court ruled that “the tenants must be given notice of the proposed rent increase and a right to reply before the [OHCD] approves the landlord’s request.” Google the case yourself: Geneva Towers Tenants Organization vs. Federated Mortgage, 504 F.2d 483.
That law is not being obeyed. OHCD and the Kenoi administration simply ignore it. We have protested. We have challenged OHCD under its own rules for a declaratory judgment and they simply tell us to talk to the landlord: “Your concerns … should be directed to the Project Manager, Hawaii Affordable Properties, as the County is not a party to the lease agreements.” The landlord is Keith Kato, executive director of Hawaii Island Community Development Corporation, which otherwise does good things for kupuna.
But doing good elsewhere misses the point here. In all projects on this island the residents are entitled by law to have the federal court’s ruling obeyed. In my case, the rent for a one bedroom unit is being raised from $800 to $981 — the maximum allowed by law. That is a 22.6 percent rent hike for people living on fixed income. Is that what the federal court meant when it said “they will continue to receive the benefits of low cost housing?” Wouldn’t you be outraged if your property taxes were raised by 22.6 percent?
Each year, HUD established what it believes the median cost should be for a one bedroom apartment. Median price: That means half are above, half are below. The fair market rent for 2015 for Hawaii County is $945. A “low cost” housing unit would be less than that. Instead, the county is allowing the landlord to charge $981 for one of our units. That means I will pay $202 monthly but the taxpayers will have to pay $779 every month to the landlord. I believe that gauges the taxpayer and OHCD should not permit it. The federal court said the program’s “goal is to provide reasonable charges to tenants and a fair return to the mortgagor.” The $981 is more than a fair return, and OHCD should be told so.
A bill is currently before the County Council to try and begin the process of helping kupuna in situations such as this. Councilmember Margaret Wille has introduced Bill 139, but most of the council does not seem to believe there are problems which we face. There are rules and laws governing the termination of tenancy but they, too, are ignored and not enforced by the OHCD. The rules say one must violate the same rule three times before your lease will not be renewed. A tenant was thrown out for a single violation. Why? Two other ladies were talking — talking — about starting a petition to have the manager replaced; their leases were not renewed. Why not, Mr. $110,000 director of the Office of the Aging? Why aren’t you insisting the mayor make his appointed OHCD director do what is right by kupuna? Heck, not just poor kupuna but poverty-level families, too. They deserve the same low-cost housing the law calls for. Please write or call your councilmember and tell them so.
I know there must be hundreds of readers who agree with me that a lawless administration benefits nobody but lawbreakers and those who twist the spirit of the law for their own selfish ends. I cannot afford to be a good citizen like Brenda Ford, who also cares deeply about decent county government, and pay to take the county to court. It is time to go beyond the administrative battle that I can wage. We can’t keep taking every malfeasance to the Ethics Board, so is there an attorney reading this who is willing on a pro bono basis to take this case to the 3rd Circuit under Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 91-14? One single attorney on the island? Please, somebody step up.
Lanric Hyland is a resident of Kapaau.
Viewpoint articles are the opinion of the writer and not necessarily the opinion of West Hawaii Today.