Improving Public Housing Conditions

2008–2015

Despite years of federal oversight and receipt of substantial federal funds, the state allowed two of its largest public housing projects to become unsafe and unsanitary. 

Public housing provides the promise of safety and shelter for Hawaiʻi’s struggling families and an opportunity to break the generational cycle of poverty. But by 2008, conditions at some public housing projects in the state had deteriorated to the extent that they no longer served their intended purpose. Instead, conditions at two of the state’s largest public housing projects, Kuhio Park Terrace (KPT) and Mayor Wright Homes (MWH) were actively putting the health and safety of residents at risk.

Lawyers for Equal Justice (LEJ), along with its co-counsel, represented more than a thousand public housing residents living at KPT and MWH. The deplorable conditions at these projects included: 

• Fire code violations;

• Leaking and bursting plumbing;

• An almost total lack of hot water;

• Vermin infestations including rats, roaches and bedbugs;

• Overflowing trash piles;

• Inoperable elevators;

• Inconsistent security; and

• Other hazardous and inaccessible conditions.

Prior to the lawsuit, the state had already been cited for life-threatening conditions at the projects. LEJ’s lawsuits resulted in the leveraging of over $150 million in federal tax credits to Kuhio Park Terrace and millions of dollars in repairs completed at Mayor Wright Homes.

The Case: Faletogo v. Hawaiʻi

Kuhio Park Terrace and Kuhio Homes are two of the State of Hawaiʻi’s largest housing projects. Despite years of federal oversight and receipt of substantial federal funds, the state has allowed these projects to become unsafe and unsanitary. They have failing elevators, unsavory staircases, frequent sewage backups, regular fires–and no working fire protection equipment, roaches, vermin, unsanitary trash disposal, and a complete lack of needed equipment to ensure access for disabled persons. The net effect are conditions where persons with respiratory disabilities and mobility disabilities are unable to access the project or are faced with choosing between unlivable conditions and the streets.

For years, these horrible conditions have been public knowledge. They have also the subject of federal reviews by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development—reviews that gave the State of Hawaiʻi failing scores after finding numerous health and safety violations. Conditions at the project violated federal, state, and local housing codes. Nonetheless, the State of Hawaiʻi refused to take these issues seriously, resulting in a feeling of second-class citizenry of persons living at the projects.

Related Media