Reversing Rent Overcharges

2004–2011

Lawyers for Equal Justice’s first case, brought in 2004, was aimed at stopping the state from overcharging low-income families, and ensuring that subsidized housing serves its purpose as a platform for economic stability.

Safe, affordable housing provides the foundation for a stable, successful life. Many families in Hawaiʻi struggle with housing costs, which are among the highest in the nation. Some of Hawaiʻi’s households with the greatest financial struggles are able to access subsidized housing that caps shelter costs—both rents and utilities—at 30 percent of the household’s income. These subsidized shelter costs provide a platform from which families can climb out of poverty or kūpuna and others with fixed incomes can achieve the long-term stability necessary to avoid homelessness.

Across the state, people have felt that platform slowly crumble from beneath them as the owners and operators of some subsidized housing projects have failed to adjust utility subsidies to keep up with inflation. In some cases, the owners failed to make the legally-required adjustments for decades, affecting thousands of Hawaiʻi’s families, some of whom were overcharged by over a hundred dollars a month for years.

Lawyers for Equal Justice (LEJ) has litigated six such cases, securing over three million dollars in reimbursements for low-income families, and obtaining rent adjustments that amount to well over a million dollars each year going forward.

Tenants in public housing pay 30 percent of their income for rent. This rate ensures that tenants’ rent is within their ability to pay. Tenants need the remaining portions of their rent to cover other necessities, such as healthcare, food, and taxes.

Part of the public housing subsidy, under the federal Public Housing Act, includes a fair allowance for utilities. In 2003, LEJ lawyers discovered that the Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority and certain housing projects were not providing a fair allowance to their tenants, forcing to choose between paying for utilities or other necessities. These policies caused many public housing tenants to pay more than their legal share for housing and, in some cases, caused loss of housing.

LEJ has made it a priority to ensure that public housing tenants received their fair share in utility allowances. In furtherance of that goal, LEJ filed three class action law suits against the local public housing authority seeking injunctive relief and re-payment of utility allowances to tenants.