State officials open Section 8 waiting list

The state’s public housing office is opening up the waiting list for federally subsidized Section 8 housing vouchers for the first time in a decade as Hawaii struggles to reduce its rate of homelessness, which is the highest per capita in the nation.

Housing officials anticipate being flooded with thousands of applications, with demand greatly outstripping available housing units. To restrict the size of the waiting list, the Hawaii Public Housing Authority will be accepting applications for only three days — beginning Tuesday and ending at midnight Aug. 18.

Officials are anticipating that about 12,000 new applications will be submitted during that time, but expect to start handing out vouchers in about 60 days — 50 of them in the first 30 days. Within the first year, between 200 and 300 vouchers are expected to be issued.

The announcement was made during a news conference Wednesday, attended by Gov. David Ige and top housing and human services officials.

“The major focus of this administration is to increase housing,” Ige said. “Homelessness is connected to our ability to provide housing to our community at all levels because we don’t have enough homes for our community.”

Priority will be given to the homeless, victims of domestic abuse, and individuals and families involuntarily displaced from their homes. The waiting list will be ranked on a first-come, first-served basis — meaning that it’s best for applicants to sign up as soon as possible. HPHA will provide an online application and is encouraging homeless families and individuals to work with local service providers to complete the applications.

The average value of each voucher is about $1,000 a month, said Barbara Arashiro, executive assistant for HPHA, and can cover all or a portion of one’s rent.

Housing officials have been working to encourage more landlords to accept the housing vouchers. Currently about 1,000 landlords participate in the program, a 375 percent increase over the last decade, according to state officials.

HPHA’s Section 8 housing program serves primarily Oahu, with the neighbor island counties administering their own voucher programs. However, the vouchers administered by the housing authority can be used on any island and in any state, according to Arashiro.

The housing authority had expected to open up the waiting list this past November for about two weeks. Ige said Wednesday that the date was delayed to make sure the administrative processes were in place to accept thousands of applications and that there were available support systems to help people apply.

The last time the state housing authority accepted Section 8 housing applications was in 2006. At that time the waiting list had swelled to 15,000 applications. It’s taken nearly a decade to clear that backlog.

There are roughly 7,500 people in Section 8 housing under HPHA’s voucher program.

Getting landlords to accept Section 8 tenants has historically been difficult. In 2014 the housing agency gave out 300 vouchers to the remaining people on the 2006 waiting list. As of October 2015, more than half of the families were still looking for housing, agency officials said at the time.

Currently there are about 29 households that hold a Section 8 voucher and are in the process of seeking housing, according to Keopu Reelitz, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services. She said that, on average, households have 30 days to locate a unit, but can request an extension if additional time is needed.

Robert Kubota, vice president of Douglas Engineering Pacific, a local consulting firm, spoke at the news conference about his experience in low-income housing and the importance of similar assistance programs. At the age of 26 and about to become a father, he said he and his wife struggled to make it on his $24,000-a-year salary.

“I grew up with what I would consider a silver spoon. We weren’t rich, but we had more than enough,” he said. “I never thought that I would one day live in low-income housing or be a beneficiary of the welfare system.”

He said that after about a year, his family was able to increase their income and move out of the housing. That was about 11 years ago.

“In hindsight, we were very lucky,” he said. “Having these programs are so important in helping people grow.”

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ON THE NET:

>> The online applications will be accessible starting Tuesday at hpha.apply 4housing.com.