FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    

The Legal Aid Society of Hawai’i, the largest and oldest nonprofit law firm in the state, announces a new effort to assist the State of Hawai’i and City & County of Honolulu Section 8 programs to provide Section 8 voucher recipients with assistance locating convenient and affordable housing.

Section 8 is a program that provides for rental subsidy vouchers to be paid directly to landlords on behalf of low-income families and primarily elderly, disabled or handicapped individuals.  When an individual is awarded a Section 8 rental subsidy, they initially have sixty (60) days from the date their voucher is issued to locate a rental unit that will accept Section 8.

In order to better assist Section 8 recipients in locating units and landlords that will accept their voucher, Legal Aid and Section 8 program staff have compiled a list of available “Section 8 friendly” rental units and placed this list online, at www.legalaidhawaii.org.

Section 8 recipients who may not have access to a computer are invited to walk-in to Legal Aid’s Center for Equal Justice (CEJ) at 924 Bethel Street in the historic Friend Building.  The CEJ has five public computer stations available, and offers the public free Internet access and assistance with conducting online searches for housing and employment, setting up free e-mail accounts, doing simple legal research, and more.

For more information, please call Scott Morishige at (808) 527-8069, or look for more information at your local Section 8 office.

Contact:     Scott Morishige
Phone:        (808) 527-8069
E-mail:        scmoris@lashaw.org