Question: To whom do you report Section 8 fraud? A woman has her employed boyfriend living with her but does not report him as an occupant of the unit and his income.
Answer: Both the state and the city have Section 8 housing programs, which use federal funds for rental assistance to eligible households at or below 50% of Honolulu’s median annual income, as set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The income levels vary according to household size. Where to report suspected fraud locally depends on whether the tenant participates in the city or state program.
For the city program, Honolulu’s Department of Community Services’ Community Assistance Division posts instructions at 808ne.ws/4cqeNh4, which say:
“If you have reason to believe that any fraudulent activity is taking place in connection with any City and County of Honolulu housing programs, report the matter promptly to Section 8 Fraud Investigations. You may use the following methods to report alleged fraudulent activity:
“Email the Fraud/Compliance Report to: cchs8@honolulu.gov or to the HUD Office of Inspector General Hotline at Hotline@hudoig.gov.
“Mail the Fraud/Compliance Report to: Honolulu Section 8 Office, 842 Bethel Street 1st Floor, Honolulu, HI 96813.
“Or write to HUD Office Hotline at: HUD OIG Hotline, GFI, 451 7th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20410.
“Email is the preferred method to report fraud. If you have further questions you may contact our section 8 offices at 808-768-7096 or HUD Office of Inspector General Hotline at 1-800-347-3735.”
There’s a link on the website to the fraud/compliance report form you would fill out. Anyone reporting suspected fraud should provide detailed information so that investigators are able to follow up. Alleged violations by tenants or landlords participating in the city’s housing programs may be reported, as well as alleged malfeasance by employees of the Honolulu Section 8 Office, the website says.
As for the state program, we couldn’t find fraud-reporting instructions on the Hawaii Public Housing Authority website, hpha.hawaii.gov, but the HPHA Section 8 phone line does have an option to report suspected fraud or abuse of Section 8 benefits. Call 808-204-9042 and press 6 after hearing the recorded greeting. You could also try emailing hphas8office@hawaii.gov for more information. Or you could report the matter to HUD as the city program describes.
Participation in Section 8 carries responsibilities for the tenants, the landlords and the public housing administrators working for the city, the state and HUD. As the city’s website says, it’s not just tenants who can be reported for suspected fraud, malfeasance or abuse.
Last, we’ll add that neither the city nor the state’s Section 8 programs on Oahu are accepting new applications right now, according to their websites. The programs work from waitlists.
Tax scam alert
The state Department of Taxation warns Hawaii residents not to fall for a tax enforcement scam, with fraudsters sending letters demanding payment for an alleged overdue tax debt. “Hawaii taxpayers should not reply to any correspondence from the ‘Tax Processing Group’ or ‘Internal Processing Service.’ They have no association with the state of Hawai‘i,” DOTAX said in a news release. As with similar mail, email or telephone scams, recipients who aren’t overdue on their state taxes likely would recognize the letter as a scam, but those who do have overdue debt might mistake it for actual correspondence. As always, don’t pay or give financial or personal information to an unsolicited contact. Anyone who would like to confirm the legitimacy of any purported tax notice should contact DOTAX directly, via the contact information posted at tax.hawaii.gov/contact.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
