Thousands await housing aid

By PETER SUR

Tribune-Herald staff writer

More than 6,000 Big Island low-income individuals and families are on a waiting list for federal rent assistance, according to a recent report the Hawaii County Housing Agency filed with the federal government.

That’s three times the amount of units that are actually available.

According to the annual report that was filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the county has the capacity for 1,796 rent vouchers for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

And absent additional funding from the federal government, the number of people being wait-listed for federal assistance will continue to grow.

HUD’s rent assistance program is commonly known as Section 8, a reference to the enabling language in the Housing Act of 1937. Though funded by the federal government, it is administered locally by the county Housing Agency.

Each voucher is worth an average of $650, which gives eligible households rental assistance for private landlords. That would make the total amount of federal rental housing assistance about $14 million for the Big Island.

The annual report that the county filed with the government is open for public comment through March 30.

“It’s up to the community and those impacted by our program to provide their comments as to what they would like to see changed; any other recommendations,” said the Hawaii County Housing Agency’s Sharon Hirota, the division head responsible for implementing Section 8.

“We haven’t called people off of the wait list since 2010,” Hirota said. “And so the number has continuously grown. So that’s where we are today.”

Hirota said the number of available units is based on funding.

“If we don’t have enough funds, we can’t call anybody off the wait list,” she said. “Our goal is to not have a waiting list, but to service the people who have a need for housing assistance. Unfortunately, the federal government doesn’t allocate enough money to serve the population that applies to the program.”

Of the applicants on the waiting list, 3,216, or 54 percent, are families with children. An additional 538, or 7 percent are elderly families.

Broken down by income, 41 percent of those on the wait list are classified as “extremely low income,” which for a family of four is an annual income of $17,370 or less for Hawaii County. This number is likely much higher, because 25 percent of those applicants on the list did not provide their income information.

Broken down by race, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders represented 44 percent of those on the wait list, followed by whites (39 percent) and Asians (8 percent).

“The way the program works, the family must also contribute a portion of their income toward rent and utilities,” Hirota said. “So if the rent and utilities, let’s say, is about $1,000, we would pay $650 and the family would pay the difference, which is $350.”

Those seeking to get on the wait list may apply at the Office of Housing and Community Development at 1990 Kinoole St., Suite 105, in Hilo, or at the West Hawaii Civic Center in Kailua-Kona.

“I always encourage people to apply because our list is so long, we don’t know when we will get more funding, and as we get funding we can call people on the wait list,” Hirota said. “We recently called off people off of our waiting list, offering for the first time in two years. We offered to a little over 190 families or applicants, and these were people who applied in August 2007.”

Privacy laws prevent the government from sharing information with the media, but Hirota said those families who were notified they can receive rent assistance are “elated.”

Email Peter Sur at psur@hawaiitribune-herald.com.