2014-09-17, Committee on People with Disabilities Minutes

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Family self-sufficiency program is a program where a person on Section 8 wants to own their own house, they would have counseling on how to make house payments, credit repair sometimes, income qualifications, things that they need to do. If they qualify, part of the money they receive, they will be getting credit as a deposit to buy. We’re doing re-entry housing for people who are re-entering from prison that are trying to get housing. A lot of impediments to Fair Housing are impediments to people with disabilities. This year there is going to be a big focus on barriers with people with disabilities. The result of that becomes part of our Con Plan. Kamakoanui, our workforce housing was built as an experimental demonstration housing program designed to meet the needs of low income and moderate income housing. A new program, Landlord Tenant Laws 2014 was approved through the real estate branch in addition with Hawai‘i Island Realtors. They’re not opening it up to the public, but they want to make sure property managers understand the rights and the changes in the laws. And what we’re really going to be focusing on are service animals, comfort animals, assistance animals and medical marijuana. Alan thanked the committee for having him and answered their questions. C. Cholas inquired if the RERP program was a loan program or a grant? Alan stated that it is a grant, but it goes as a silent lien unless you sell or refinance. It is handled by our Section 8 program. C. Cholas’ To answer inquiry - the administration office for the Office of Housing and Community Development is located at 50 Wailuku Drive. Another office is at 1990 Kinoole and the Kona office is at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center. The family self-sufficiency is only for people that are currently receiving county housing, Section 8. You would work with your case worker and they would let you know what the requirements are. A. Rudo stated that Office of Housing funds Hawai‘i Homeownership Counsel for people that want the same thing as the family self-sufficiency but aren’t on Section 8. They can get that counseling and get prepared, and they can also tie into programs like that. Gena Avilla spoke about the difficulty she had when she recently became disabled and her income changed dramatically. She and her service dog had to vacate their living quarters because the landlord did not understand that she qualified and that she had her service dog. There shouldn’t be any housing issues for people with disabilities, but Alan stated that in reality there are. J. Mancini lives in Hawaiian Beaches and has been trying to move since May and there isn’t anything available. Alan stated that there is no house in Hilo that 3