Housing agency gets new board
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
Gov. Linda Lingle has named a new board of directors to head the state's troubled public housing agency, and the group will have a host of problems to sort through, including federal complaints of mismanagement and internal complaints of delays and favoritism in past hiring practices.
• Lillian Koller, Department of Human Services • Ted Liu, Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism • Bob Awana, Gov. Lingle's chief of staff • Travis Thompson, retired business executive • Frank Jung, attorney • Stephanie Aveiro, Lingle's special assistant • Chuck Sted, former bank executive • Charles King, an automobile dealership owner • Taiaopo Tuimalealiifano, a resident of the Kalihi Valley Homes public housing project
The entire board of directors of the Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawai'i, as well as executive director Sharyn Miyashiro, stepped down late last year under pressure from U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department official Michael Liu.
New housing board members
HCDCH oversees more than 10,000 state and federal housing units. The agency, which has assets of some $1.5 billion, has been the target since 1997 of increasingly pointed federal criticism about its management and spending practices, culminating with a demand from Michael Liu last November that Miyashiro and the entire board step down by the end of the year.
Liu accused Miyashiro of violating federal regulations on conflict of interest when she awarded a $771,000 contract in 2001 to Punalu'u Builders Inc., a company co-owned by her ex-husband Dennis Mitsunaga, a political fund-raiser and friend of former Gov. Ben Cayetano.
Liu at first demanded that HCDCH refund the $771,000 to HUD but now is allowing the Lingle administration to attempt to recover the money first from Punalu'u Builders before any final decision is made about refunding the money to HUD.
On top of the federal findings about mismanagement, new allegations of favoritism in hiring and other personnel problems at HCDCH have been made by a longtime HCDCH employee, Wanda Zablan.
In written testimony recently submitted to the state Senate Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, HCDCH personnel specialist Zablan said the agency under Miyashiro was characterized by "fear, intimidation and favoritism."
Chronic staff vacancies at HCDCH were not filled by Miyashiro "even after repeated requests by myself, managers and staff," Zablan said.
Hawai'i Parole Authority administrator Tommy Johnson, who worked with Zablan at HCDCH, said staff members repeatedly gave Miyashiro paperwork to authorize new hires "but the positions weren't filled."
He also concurred with Zablan's accusations of favoritism in the hiring process.
"There were cases where (civil service-)exempt employees were hired against our recommendations because they didn't meet the job qualifications," Johnson said.
Federal officials have repeatedly cited HCDCH for failure to fill vacant jobs.
A HUD audit in 2000 noted that that there were 50 vacant maintenance positions and some had been unfilled for more than a year. That meant that empty housing units couldn't be refurbished and put on the market, costing the Hawai'i agency $1.5 million in income a year, the auditors said.
In the past two years, HCDCH had to forfeit nearly $500,000 in federal anti-drug grant money because the money, earmarked for the hiring of anti-drug personnel, wasn't spent on time.
Miyashiro could not be reached for comment.
Robert Hall, acting HCDCH director, said: "I think overall we could have been a little more aggressive in filling the positions."
