Haw. Code R. § 17-2031-25 - Local preferences

(a) Eligible applicants shall be given preference for certification in the program if, at the time they are seeking housing assistance, they fall within the following preference categories:

(1) The following preferences shall be given first priority but have equal weight within this group:

(A) Involuntarily displaced, including public housing families subject to relocation due to modernization activity, or based on an emergency where conditions of the public housing dwelling unit, building, or project pose an immediate, verifiable threat to life, health or safety of the family, and the family cannot be relocated to another public housing dwelling unit in the same program, meeting their needs;

(B) Victims of domestic violence, including public housing tenants that are victims of stalking, or reprisals, or hate crimes, and cannot be safely transferred to another public housing dwelling unit in the same program; or

(C) Homeless; or

(D) Public housing families that exceed the largest public housing dwelling unit size on the island where they reside; or Public housing tenants who are approved for a reasonable accommodation for a dwelling unit with special features and have not been offered a dwelling unit in the public housing program that meets the family's needs and have waited over one year.

(2) The following preferences shall be given second priority but have equal weight within this group:

(A) Living in substandard housing; or

(B) Paying more than fifty per cent of annual income for rent.

(3) The following are other preferences that have equal weight:

(A) Working families and those unable to work because of age or disability;

(B) Veterans and veterans' surviving spouse;

(C) Residents who live or work in the jurisdiction (by county); or

(D) Victims of reprisals or hate crimes.

(b) Each preference in each priority group is of equal weight and an applicant who qualifies for any of the preferences shall receive assistance before any other applicant who is not so qualified regardless of:

(1) Place on the waiting list;

(2) Date or time of submission of an application; or

(3) Lottery position.

(c) An applicant shall not receive preference if any adult member of the applicant family is a person who was evicted or terminated from any housing program operated by the authority during the past three years because of drug-related criminal activities unless the adult member has successfully completed a rehabilitation program approved by the authority.

Notes

Haw. Code R. § 17-2031-25

[Eff 12/31/2022] (Auth: HRS §3560-13) (Imp: HRS § 356D-13; 24 C.F.R. § 982.203, 982.207) ]