Opinion ID: 2799164
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: HPHA Proceedings

Text: On February 27, 2012, HPHA sent Kolio a Notice of Violation of Rental Agreement and Proposed Termination of Rental 1 The Association is referred to as a “resident council” by HUD. Pursuant to 24 C.F.R. § 964.18, housing authorities like HPHA must assist residents in establishing and maintaining a resident council upon the request of the residents. Participation in resident councils is voluntary, and the governing board is democratically elected. 24 C.F.R. § 964.115. 2 These funds had been provided to the Association by HUD under 24 C.F.R. § 964.150(a)(1). These funds were to be used for purposes set forth in 24 C.F.R. § 964. 3 As a result, Kolio was sentenced to 30 days of incarceration, five years probation, and directed to pay $1,400 in restitution to HPHA. 3  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  Agreement (Non-Rent Violation) (Notice) stating that HPHA would proceed to terminate Kolio’s tenancy because he violated, among other sections, Section 8(p)(1) of the Rental Agreement. Section 8(p)(1) stated that it was a tenant’s obligation to (p) Assure that Tenant, any member of the household, a guest or another person under Tenant control, shall not engage in: (1) Any criminal activity or alcohol abuse that threatens the health, safety or right to peaceful enjoyment of Management’s public housing premises by other public housing residents or neighboring residents or employees of Management[.] The Notice further referred to Kolio’s misappropriation of Association funds. After the parties were unable to settle the dispute through the grievance process prescribed by Hawai#i Administrative Rules (HAR) § 17-2021, a hearing was scheduled before the Oahu Eviction Board A of HPHA on September 11, 2012 to determine whether the Rental Agreement should be canceled and terminated due to the alleged violations. In addition to providing evidence of Kolio’s theft and his conviction, the Manager’s Report to the Eviction Board stated that “Theft in the Second Degree is defined as a felony which constitutes criminal activity in violation of Section 8(p)(1) of the Rental Agreement.” The Report also stated that the “Association funds which were to be used solely for the benefit of the individual residents that Mr. Kolio represented, caused mistrust within the community causing a [threat to] health, safety or right to 4  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  peaceful enjoyment of Management’s public housing premises by other public housing residents or neighboring residents.” Kolio argued that he did not violate Section 8(p)(1) of the lease because that Section referred only to activity that “(1) meets the definition of ‘criminal activity’ as understood in the context of public housing evictions and (2) ‘threatens the health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises’ by others.” He asserted that the argument that tenant safety and health were threatened because the Association did not possess the stolen funds was purely speculative, and “‘[a] legal conclusion should not rest on a foundation of entirely fictitious events.’” At the hearing, HPHA Project Manager Joanna Renken (Renken) testified that: A lot of times, we feel that peaceful enjoyment or, or any kind of threat of health and safety is a lot times physical, but what people don’t know [is] that it can also mean emotional as well. So, I’m speaking on behalf of the residents of Mayor Wright Homes, and Mr. Kolio did violate the Rental Agreement. When responding to a question about what the Association funds were to be used for, Renken stated: Usually the resident participation fund is given by the HUD . . . and that specific fund is supposed to be used to generate programs for the residents within the community to gain either employment or anything to make them become self sufficient, or to provide anything that would be a benefit to the residents within the community. She also testified that the funds Kolio stole were supposed to be 5  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  used for any kind of services “from computer classes to sewing classes to reading classes, anything that would benefit the, not the association, the residents” and were not for personal use. In its Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, Decision and Order, the Eviction Board found that Kolio violated Section 8(p)(1) of the Rental Agreement and noted that Kolio had held a position of trust and had deprived the Association and residents of “the funds and resources that could have been used for the health, safety and welfare of all the residents . . . .” The Board ordered that Kolio be evicted.