It's time to step it up on public housing

Imagine coming home from the hospital and having to be carried up the stairs because the elevators are down in your 16-story building—for the third time this week. How about having to use a portable toilet in your living room because the only bathroom in the home is on the second floor and you are in a wheelchair.

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.

Last week, tenants at KPT and Kuhio Homes filed federal and state class-action lawsuits against the Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority for its continuous failure to comply with federal laws mandating fair treatment for disabled residents and to remedy the substandard living conditions they are forced to endure every day. After years of neglect, the complexes are so severely deteriorated that the list of horrible conditions is almost endless.