LEJ’s report, based on extensive review of court filings, court minutes, pleadings filed in individual cases, HPD statistics and media reports, concluded that government officials and the media misinformed the public.

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court issued two series of orders since the start of the pandemic, leading to the safe release of hundreds of incarcerated people from Hawaiʻi prisons and jails.

Hawaiʻi’s Department of Public Safety says it would cost more than $1 million to release data related to its long-standing problem with keeping inmates locked up beyond their scheduled release dates.

Kapālama residents fed up with what they say is substandard public housing conditions filed class-action lawsuits in state and federal courts yesterday against the state for the alleged lack of repairs.

Only cold water streams from most showers and sink spigots at Mayor Wright public housing, a chilling daily reminder to its low-income residents that their basic need for hot water has been ignored by the government.

“We have appropriated funds to take care of many of the projects, including the elevators, trash chutes, fire alarms, etc., but there seem to be delays in carrying out the repairs. We've tried to hold the administration accountable by doing hearings, site visits, and recently asked for an audit.”

Lifting the public housing project from its deep decline will take effort from all stakeholders—the Housing Authority, state lawmakers, residents, community leaders and more.

The minimum expected of public housing, according to multiple federal laws on the books, is that it be "decent, safe, and sanitary." It's simply unconscionable that there are still public housing projects in Hawaiʻi that can't even reach that low bar.

Among the responsibilities of state government is to help provide basic needs for citizens' whose own means fall short. Where shelter is concerned, the state acknowledges this through its public housing projects.

The state, as a landlord, has an obligation to provide living quarters that are in good repair, just as private property owners do.

Disabled tenants at Kuhio Park Terrace and Kuhio Homes have to worry every day about meeting their most basic needs, but after years of suffering, they have new hope it's about to change.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, also says disabled tenants are not being afforded bare-bones accommodations, including accessible showers.

The federal case alleges that the public housing project violates the American with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act and the Fair Housing Act. The state case alleges a breach of obligation by the state under its warranty of habitability.

Calling the state ''the largest slumlord'' in Hawaii, Lawyers for Equal Justice filed federal and state class-action lawsuits Thursday against the Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority.

Studies have shown that homeless students can be set back by as much as eight months each time they change schools, said Victor Geminiani, executive director of Lawyers for Equal Justice.

The state will assist families to ensure they attend school.

The state has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit filed last year that alleged homeless children around the state are being denied equal access to public education.

A federal judge has given the state Department of Education until April 30 to revise its enrollment forms and computer registration programs to improve how it identifies, tracks and transports homeless students as required under federal law.

Homeless families sue the DOE for failing to educate their children in accordance a with federal law.

Lawyers for Equal Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi yesterday went to court seeking an order that would immediately stop the state from enforcing laws and policies they claim make it hard for transient students to find stability in their schooling.