Rats, flies, rot: Hawaii public housing residents call for cleanup

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Residents of a public housing facility on Oahu said they have dealt with flies, rats and a hideous stench for weeks.

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Some reached out to KHON2’s Report It feature to try to help clean things up.

“You talking rats, you talking maggots, you talking food rotting,” Punchbowl Home resident Allen Torres said.

The dumpster in Punchbowl Home public housing has gotten so full that residents are being asked to bring their trash outside near the parking lot.

“We cannot go and dump the rubbish over there. We have to walk all the way around because I guess the smell and the flies are coming out of that door,” said Michelle, a caretaker at Punchbowl Home.

“It’s terrible, it stinks. There’s flies, there’s rats, there’s mice,” another resident said, “and the cats are eating the mice, you know, so it’s a rotating problem.”

Trash chutes on every floor have been locked so more garbage is not dumped down, but making the walk around the building is not easy for everyone.

“How do we get rid of our trash,” asked wheelchair-bound Punchbowl Home resident Woody Woolcock. “Especially people who can’t access the trash bin.”

Residents said State crews did the trash pickup in previous years, but a notice posted on Friday, May 3 said the Hawaii Public Housing Authority is working on getting the situation taken care of and a private trash company was contacted.

“A lot of times privatizing, most of the times when you privatize, it’s not for the best,” Torres said. “But when your City or the State refuge comes, your taxes already paid for that!”

Residents told KHON2 that they hope public officials step up and take action because the facility is public housing.

“Before this, the maintenance crew has been doing it on their own,” Michelle said, “like loading their trucks and taking the rubbish to the dump themselves.”

“They really need to just look at the upkeep on their properties, I don’t know. They’ve really let them go,” Woodcock said.

The Public Housing Authority directed KHON2 to contact West Oahu Aggregate, which did not respond to inquiries on Friday.

“It’s embarrassing, brah! Nobody should live like this,” Torres said.

The official posted notice asked residents to please be patient and understanding as they try to find another solution. In a statement, the HPHA said the following:

The management team at HPHA has been diligently pursuing resolution with the contracted company responsible for trash removal. Despite their apologies and acknowledgment of driver shortages affecting numerous properties, including private ones beyond our housing community, the HPHA has applied pressure to expedite action. Efforts to secure an alternative company have been hampered by their own high demand. While our staff has been proactive in addressing the issue, lacking heavy-duty trucks and specialized equipment has limited our effectiveness. Rest assured, HPHA is taking this matter very seriously and we are committed to holding the contracted company accountable for their contractual lapses and ensuring timely resolution to this matter.

Hakim Ouansafi, Hawaii Public Housing Authority Executive Director