LIHU‘E — As the state barrels toward the lifting of the eviction moratorium, the county is setting up a landlord-tenant mediation program.
Under Gov. David Ige’s COVID-19 emergency proclamation, evictions for failure to pay rent are prohibited. The state Legislature put forth House Bill 1376, now Act 57, that amended related rules in light of this.
The state has extended the notice of termination from five to 15 days, and requires landlords to meet in mediation with tenants if requested. The act also restricts when a landlord may exercise remedies and the amount of rent due from the tenant.
The County Housing Agency will be putting $281,000 into this program, as approved by the County Council on Wednesday.
Final details are being hammered out, but CHA Director Adam Roversi said the program will likely be through Kaua‘i Economic Opportunity, which already has a contract with the state court system.
Ige last extended the eviction moratorium on June 7, for 60 days, and in interviews stated it would be the final extension. The moratorium will lift Aug. 6.
The county will also be expanding its emergency-housing-voucher program with federal coronavirus recovery funds.
This voucher program is intended for the houseless community, including those who are at risk of homelessness, and those feeling or attempting to leave an unsafe situation like domestic violence, sexual assault or human trafficking.
The county was initially awarded $348,288 for up to 28 of these emergency vouchers authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The funds can be used for housing-search assistance, security deposits, utility deposits and retention programs, Roversi said Wednesday.
“And then a category of just sort of other general expenses like moving expenses, essential household items or tenant-readiness programs, which could be things like financial counseling,” Roversi said.
Different from the federal Section 8 Emergency Housing Voucher rental-assistance program, an applicant can qualify through working with any one of a collection of nonprofit groups that work with the houseless under Bridging The Gap. These groups coordinate together and enter individuals into a referral-database system, which the county will utilize but doesn’t operate.
“Those are the entities that we would look to provide these services, and we would be able to use these service fees to help compensate them for doing that,” Roversi said. “They provide the background case-management services for the people that will be referred into our EHV voucher program to receive the rent payments.”
The county will have all the funds “in hand” by the end of July, Roversi said.
“By the last day of this month (the CHA will be ready) and be poised to begin, in a very quick turnaround, receiving referrals from the continuum-of-care member organizations,” he said.
The County Council also approved the CHA’s request to receive and expend these funds on Wednesday.
“Let’s remember it’s an island-wide problem,” Councilmember Billy DeCosta said.
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Sabrina Bodon, public safety and government reporter, can be reached at 245-0441 or sbodon@thegardenisland.com.
