A series of evictions at Kuhio Park Terrace has prompted advocates of public housing tenants to demand a halt to further actions statewide, saying residents should receive a clearer understanding of rules.

But Stephanie Aveiro, who heads the Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawai'i, said the number of evictions has not been extraordinary in the past six months, and that project managers are simply following the rules by evicting those who have not been paying the rent.

There have been 23 evictions from Kuhio Park Terrace in the past six months, an eviction rate which is in line with the average in recent years, public housing officials said.

But the number of evictions to date are "just the tip of the iceberg," said Julia Estrella, a spokeswoman for the group Island Tenants on the Rise. "They're targeting poor people who don't have anyplace to go."

Estrella said that about a year ago, new rules were put in place at state housing projects that made it easier for property managers to evict those delinquent on their rents. The process was never fully explained to tenants, many of whom have limited education or are foreign-born with little English skills, she said.

Once evicted from a state or federal housing complex, Estrella noted, a family is not eligible to return and, given the continuing hot housing market, would have a difficult time finding shelter.

Among those fighting an eviction is Gloriann Quinores, 27, who has been struggling to pay $263 a month in rent. She has only been able to work a part-time job at a fast-food outlet that pays her $6.70 an hour while caring for a 10-year-old daughter and dealing with other issues.

Quinores said she has been behind on her rent for about two years and owes about $1,800. But, she said, she was given indications by Kuhio Park Terrace's property manager as recently as May that she was not in danger of being evicted.

Tirimi Nickichiw, who has lived at the public housing project with her husband and six children for about 11 years, was successful in obtaining at least a delay in an eviction. The O'ahu evictions panel will allow the family, which is from Micronesia, to stay, provided it makes some payment on the amount outstanding, totaling about $5,000 over a number of years, and pay all the current rent.

But without help from Island Tenants on the Rise, Nickichiw said, her family would have been out on the streets. She also believes there was a sudden shift in policy. "Before, I don't feel that (the delinquency amount) is going to be a problem for my family," she said.

Officials at both the Kuhio Park Terrace project manager's office and Urban Real Estate Co., which operates the project and other state housing facilities, did not return calls for comment on specific tenant issues.

State housing officials said Urban, like other property managers, is simply adhering to the eviction rules they should be following.

"The managers always were supposed to make sure the leases are being enforced," Aveiro said.

She noted that the state housing agency has been under scrutiny by federal housing officials and has promised to correct its deficiencies, including a large number of delinquencies.

There has been one significant change in tenant eviction rules in recent years that eliminated an appeals process for those seeking to overturn decisions made by an evictions board, Aveiro said. Housing and Community Development Corp. officials have tried to get tenant advocates like Island Tenants on the Rise to help translate the rules for those whose first language is not English, but has met with limited success, she said.

Aveiro said there are 13,000 people on the waiting list for public housing in Hawai'i and the state owes it to them to ensure those already in housing are current on their rent.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.