Coalition urges more protections for renters
HONOLULU — A coalition of Hawaii nonprofit organizations and social service agencies urged state lawmakers to enact widespread protections for renters in anticipation of a wave of evictions because of the economic impact of the coronavirus.
The group of more than 50 organizations said it expects evictions to occur after the $600 weekly federal supplement increase to state unemployment payments expires at the end of July.
The coalition that includes the Office of Hawaiian Affairs urged the state Legislature to address the predicted rental crisis upon reconvening Monday.
The organizations called for policies to minimize the threat of mass evictions throughout the islands — including the extension of a state prohibition on evictions for months after the pandemic ends, a landlord subsidy program and a tax credit or deduction for landlords based on reductions in rent.
The coalition also recommended instituting a mandatory mediation process to settle landlord and tenant disputes and expunging eviction records if the actions were based in part on back rent or late fees accrued during the pandemic.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates close to 20% of Hawaii’s households have been unable to make housing payments or have little or no confidence they can make upcoming rent or mortgage payments.
The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization and the Hawaii Budget and Policy Center found between 40,000 and 45,000 renter households will likely experience unemployment by July 31 without receiving rental assistance to make up for the $600 weekly federal unemployment payment they are set to lose.
About 21,500 of those renter households will be at risk of eviction because their income portion earmarked for housing will rise by 10% or more, while 7,500 will experience an increase of 30% or more, the analysis said.
Maui mayor allows budget passage without signature
WAILUKU, Maui — Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino announced he will allow the $822.6 million county budget for the upcoming year to go into effect without his signature.
Victorino cited objections to higher trash and landfill fees and cuts to department budgets in his decision not to sign the budget.
The Maui County Council passed the budget for fiscal year 2020-21 that will be in effect July 1 through June 30, 2021.
The council cut $47.2 million from Victorino’s original $869.8 million budget proposal.
Vice Chairwoman Keani Rawlins-Fernandez said council members had “hard choices to make to offset an over $53 million projected revenue shortfall due to the pandemic,” including the loss of $24 million in transient accommodation tax revenue from the state.
Judge sides with Guam resident in Social Security case
HONOLULU — There’s no rational basis for denying a disabled woman supplemental Social Security benefits because she lives on Guam, while allowing her twin sister in Pennsylvania who has the same genetic disease to receive the payments, a U.S. judge in Guam ruled.
Katrina Schaller and her twin sister Leslie were born in 1970 and grew up in Pennsylvania. The sisters suffer from myotonic dystrophy, a debilitating, degenerative genetic disorder affecting muscle function and mental processing.
After their mother died in 2007, Katrina went to live with a sister on Guam and stopped receiving the federal payments, while her twin in Pennsylvania continued receiving the money.
U.S. citizens living in any territory except the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands aren’t entitled to Supplemental Security Income, known as SSI, meant to help those who are blind or disabled. The judge’s ruling issued last week said this is “illogical and irrational.”
“There is no relevant difference between Guam and the CNMI that would rationally justify the denial of SSI benefits to otherwise eligible U.S. citizens residing in Guam, benefits enjoyed by their Chamorro neighbors just 60 miles north of and a 40-minute flight from Guam,” U.S. District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances M. Tydingco-Gatewood said in her ruling.
