State public housing agency forfeits $245,589
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state public housing agency has been forced to return $245,589 in federal anti-drug grant money because it was not spent on time, bringing the total of federal drug elimination grants refunded by the agency in the past two years to nearly $750,000.
The Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawaii is at risk of forfeiting another $814,154 of similar grants between now and September, but Robert Hall, acting executive director of the agency, said he is optimistic federal officials will extend the spending deadlines for the money.
The latest forfeiture was necessary because HCDCH was unable to spend the money by the end of the year, according to agency documents submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The money was supposed to be spent on hiring anti-drug personnel at public housing projects but the state was unable to hire the employees before the grant expiration date, which HUD had extended by six months.
In the past two years, HCDCH was forced to forfeit nearly $500,000 in anti-drug HUD grants for the same reason, Hall said.
"I think overall we could have been a little more aggressive in filling the (anti-drug) positions," he said last year.
The Bush administration last year canceled the drug elimination grant program, but HCDCH still has $814,154 of unspent drug grant money that must be obligated by September or be returned to the federal government, Hall said.
Of that money, $326,833 must be spent by the end of this month, although Hall said a request for a six-month deadline extension has been submitted to HUD. The spending deadline has been extended six months for that money but Hall said he believes federal officials will look favorably on the request for another extension.
Increasingly during the past 12 months, HCDCH has been spending enormous amounts of time trying to satisfy federal demands for improvements at the Hawai'i housing agency, which administers more than 10,000 units of state and federal public housing units.
Many of the demands are contained in a "corrective action order" imposed on HCDCH last year by HUD official Michael Liu, who also demanded and received the resignations of HCDCH executive director Sharyn Miyashiro and all members of the HCDCH board of directors at the end of last year. Liu initially demanded Hall's resignation as Miyashiro's executive assistant, but Hall has been allowed to serve as acting executive director pending a national search for a new head of the agency.
The remaining batch of unspent federal anti-drug money totals about $500,000 and must be spent by September, Hall said. That deadline has not been extended six months as was the case with the earlier grants, but HCDCH has applied for an extension and Hall believes the request will be approved.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2447.
