Housing agency board rebuts HUD's claims
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
The board of directors who run Hawai'i's public housing agency said yesterday that all but one of them will resign by year's end but strongly defended their record of providing housing for low-income families.
In a letter to Michael Liu, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, board members rebutted HUD's claims that the board mismanaged federal money and was unfit to oversee the state's 10,000 state and federally subsidized housing units. Earlier this month, Liu called on board members and top administrators to resign or be replaced and to inform Liu by yesterday of their decision.
The nine board members said that under their tenure, the Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawai'i financed more than $500 million in mortgages for 3,500 first-time homebuyers, financed more affordable rental units than all previous state administrations combined and oversaw the privatization of the first state-owned public housing project in the nation.
Though the board acknowledged working to correct problems, its members said they were under the impression that they were making good progress.
"It is unfortunate that your allegations have created the perception of wrongdoing by the board, when in fact, this is totally false," the board wrote to Liu.
Responding to HUD's demands that they reimburse the federal government for a controversial $771,000 contract, the board declined to do so until it could complete an independent cost analysis by year's end. HUD said the contract, awarded by the state housing agency's executive director to a company owned by her ex-husband, was improper.
The board's letter did not address HUD demands that Sharyn Miyashiro, the executive director, or Robert Hall, her executive assistant, also resign. Miyashiro had previously announced her intention to retire by year's end. State housing agency spokesman Darrell Young said yesterday that Hall has not made public any response to Liu's resignation request.
The lone board member who will stay on into next year is public housing residents' representative Aipopo Aipopo Jr., who was appointed to the board last year by Gov. Ben Cayetano. Aipopo "has decided to remain on the board to represent the interests of public housing residents," the letter said.
Cayetano, who has defended the board and accused Liu of playing politics, indicated yesterday that the board was worried that HUD officials might cut off federal money that is vital to the state agency.
"He (Liu) has no authority to call for resignations," Cayetano said. "The board, however, is now concerned about the flow of federal money Liu controls, and the impact on the agency's clients."
Cayetano earlier accused Liu of timing his Nov. 1 letter to gain maximum political points for Hawai'i Republican gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle just before the Nov. 5 general election. Lingle defeated Democrat Mazie Hirono and will take office Dec. 2. Liu could not be reached for comment yesterday.
"Liu's political feat calling for the resignation(s) just four days before the election hinged on the awarding of a single contract that we too had concerns about — a contract which Liu knows involved no criminal activity," Cayetano said yesterday. "Nonetheless, Liu took advantage of the power he yields and pressured the board to leave."
Cayetano said the board members "served the state with integrity and with great success, and it's really hard for me to see them fall victim to politics."
The board letter to Liu noted that HCDCH had been trying to cooperate with HUD in addressing federal concerns about Hawai'i's troubled housing agency, including spending up to $2 million to hire an outside consultant to address widespread management problems.
"We take strong exception to the report's statement that the Board of Directors is not fulfilling its primary responsibilities of overseeing official actions of HCDCH," the board said. "We feel that the inferences and statements were made and conclusions reached without documented justification and were based on anecdotal allegations."
Board members pointed out that a state attorney general's office investigation of HCDCH, ordered by Cayetano Oct. 14, had found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing there. That investigation was limited to Miyashiro's contract award to a company partly owned by her ex-husband, Dennis Mitsunaga.
The investigation did not touch on other problems at the agency, including the whereabouts of numerous crucial public records missing from consultant contract files.
HUD auditors later cited the the missing records as a serious problem for the agency, saying the agency could not justify the award of millions of dollars worth of architecture and engineering contracts.
Reach Jim Dooley at 535-2447 or jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.
