Kuhio housing residents sue

Lewers Faletogo, a 46-year-old area resident for 15 years, said he doesn’t blame the staff for the problems, because many of the issues can be addressed by more funding.

“It’s something small like our trash bin, having a fire every day,” Faletogo said. “The elevators are breaking down every day. Gas leaks in our homes, you smell them every day.”

He has serious respiratory problems worsened by the constant gas leaks. His condition requires him to be in a wheelchair, but there are no grab bars in his bathroom. Hot water comes on only from midnight to 6 a.m.

Faletogo, who has lived at both housing complexes, said he has had to be sponged clean with hot water boiled on a stove, because the cold water would worsen his illness.

Kathy Vaiola has similar bathing problems. She had her left leg amputated due to complications from diabetes, but her bathroom is upstairs in her two-story Kuhio Homes unit. She has been unable to bathe for the past five years, and wipes herself down with a wet towel.

“I try to go upstairs, but my stump went bleed,” Vaiola said.

Residents and the legal representation took note of the state’s dedication of two homeless transitional homes along the Leeward Coast yesterday.

“I don’t know where the money going, but it’s not in my hand,” Vaiola said.

Public housing needs to be a part of solving the homeless problem in the state, yet the Kuhio Park Terrace and Kuhio Homes units are in a state of disrepair, said Victor Geminiani, executive director of Lawyers for Equal Justice, a nonprofit law firm handling the case.