Hawaii Real Estate Daily

As far back as the early 1970s, lawmakers, advocates and residents were decrying backlogged maintenance, deteriorating buildings and rising crime at public housing projects statewide.

Today, after years of little action, failed oversight and inadequate funding, the crisis has become increasingly acute, with an estimated $320 million in backlogged capital needs, more than 500 vacant units awaiting repairs and a host of emergency maintenance concerns, from no or intermittent hot water, to sewer lines that back up, to elevators that don’t work.

“If something is reported to them to be repaired,” said Petina Rios, a resident at Wahiawa Terrace, “they always give an excuse they don’t have money.”

The mounting issues — made more critical given the dearth of affordable housing in the Islands and that some 8,000 people are waiting to get into public housing — threaten to render public housing ineffective as a safety net for families facing homelessness and as a decent place for poor families to work their way out of poverty.

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