Housing discrimination complaint settled ADVERTISING Housing discrimination complaint settled HONOLULU (AP) — The state’s public housing agency agreed to take steps to remove language barriers for tenants after a Micronesian family that speaks little English almost got evicted when they
Housing discrimination complaint settled
HONOLULU (AP) — The state’s public housing agency agreed to take steps to remove language barriers for tenants after a Micronesian family that speaks little English almost got evicted when they didn’t understand the legal proceedings against them.
The Legal Aid Society of Hawaii announced the agreement with the Hawaii Public Housing Authority last week. By settling, the state agency does not admit guilt but agreed to award Valantin Sirom and his wife, Sasinta Seremea, $2,000 in damages and strengthen its language access efforts.
Legal Aid filed state and federal complaints on behalf of the Chuukese couple and their family when they faced eviction after two hearings before the authority.
At the first hearing, their 17-year-old daughter tried to interpret for them but left halfway through the proceeding because she became upset, according to Legal Aid Attorney Reyna Ramolete Hayashi. The couple did not have an interpreter at the second hearing.
As part of the settlement agreement, the state agency agreed to identify people with limited English proficiency and provide them with free interpretation services as needed. Those actions are listed in a Language Access Plan and Policy that took effect in October during settlement negotiations.
About a quarter of Hawaii residents speak a language other than English at home.
Solar permits drop by half on Oahu
HONOLULU (AP) — A solar-panel installing company says the number of solar building permits issued by Honolulu in July was the city’s fewest issued in the past year and a half.
The City and County of Honolulu issued 336 photovoltaic permits last month, a decline of more than half from July 2015. The figures are from Marco Mangelsdorf, who tracks rooftop solar permits and is president of Hilo-based ProVision Solar.
So far this year, the number of permits issued is down 27 percent from the same period last year.
Mangelsdorf expects the total for all of 2016 to be half what it was in 2015.
The decline has been largely attributed to the state’s ending of a popular net energy metering program, which refunded customers at the full retail rate for electricity they supplied to the grid. The program was replaced with two less enticing options.
Only one of the two options, a grid supply program, allows customers to continue sending excess energy into the grid. The state Public Utilities Commission put a cap on the total amount of energy generated from the program statewide, and Maui County already reached its limit in June.
Experts say the cap likely will be reached on Oahu by the end of summer.
Another solar option allows customers to use batteries that store excess power generated by the panels.
Commission officials said the net energy metering program was never intended to be permanent, and reimbursing customers at the full retail rate was costly.
