Posted on: Sunday, September 26, 2004
Eviction case filled with complications
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
The case of Norman Helsham and family is not a typical public housing eviction case, but at 15 months and counting, it does demonstrate how long and convoluted the eviction process can be.
Helsham is a 22-year-old University of Hawai'i graduate who has been caring for his 17-year-old brother, 12-year-old sister and 14-year-old cousin since their grandmother, Bernadette Chung, died in December 2002. The family lived together at the Puuwai Momi housing project on O'ahu.
The state wants to evict the family because Helsham was never qualified as "head of household" to be a tenant in public housing. After Chung died, Helsham, then in his senior year at the university, began gathering and submitting paperwork to be named the "head of household," allowing him and the children to remain at Puuwai Momi as a family unit, according to court papers.
The situation was complicated because Helsham needed to obtain powers-of-attorney from his cousin's parents, but one parent lived on Maui and the other "didn't want to get involved," according to court records.
There is a dispute about whether Helsham gathered all the paperwork and submitted it in a timely manner. He says he did. The state says he didn't.
In April 2003, Helsham returned home from school and found an eviction notice, informing him that he and the kids had to vacate the apartment in two weeks, when the locks would be changed.
Other tenants at Puuwai Momi protested the action and the state agreed to delay the planned eviction, according to court records. Helsham's grandmother, Chung, had been president of the Puuwai Momi Tenants Association and was popular with the tenants.
Helsham contends that he submitted additional paperwork demanded by the state. HCDCH management says it never arrived.
Another eviction notice was delivered. Helsham found an attorney, Michael Cruise, willing to represent him. A lawsuit was filed Sept. 4, a day before the eviction was to take effect.
Helsham and the kids remain at Puuwai Momi while the suit is pending. Settlement talks have been held and more are scheduled next month. Because the case is still pending, neither side would comment.
Because the state took the position that Chung's grandchildren never received a rental agreement, they could not avail themselves of a complex grievance and administrative hearings process available to public housing tenants facing eviction.
HCDCH consultants last year called the system "cumbersome and lengthy," with delays built into the process every step of the way, culminating in a possible final appeal to the state Circuit Court.
A law enacted in 2002 eliminates much of the administrative appeals process but HCDCH has not yet completed rules and regulations necessary to implement the law.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2447.
