The state has reversed a decision that penalized a homeless woman from getting top preference for scarce public housing in part because she lives on the beach.

The case underscores what some critics say is the unfairness of treating homeless on the beach or in other makeshift quarters differently from those living in transitional shelters when assigning preferences for hard-to-get public housing.

After putting her name on the state's housing wait list several years ago, Angelina Rivera-Porter was notified in 2005 that she was in line for a three-bedroom unit. But when housing officials learned she was living on the beach instead of in a shelter, she was told she didn't qualify for the top-preference category and didn't get a state-owned rental apartment.

The existing policy, which the state is in the process of changing, gives preference to sheltered homeless who are in compliance with a social services plan. Those not in shelters generally are seen as not having as much access to social services help, and therefore, may not be as prepared to move into public housing and to become stable tenants.

But Rivera-Porter, 37, who is raising five children while holding a full-time job as a hospital housekeeper, would make a solid tenant, according to John Robert Unruh, a Legal Aid Society of Hawaii attorney who represented Rivera-Porter in her appeal of the state's 2005 decision.

Rivera-Porter was denied top preference that year even though she told the Hawai'i Public Housing Authority that she was being involuntarily displaced from her private rental unit, another factor that qualifies a person for top preference. The agency, however, told her she didn't qualify because she wasn't living in a shelter, Rivera-Porter said.

Because the agency didn't have documentation to show whether it sufficiently explored the involuntary displacement issue, it reversed the earlier decision and placed Rivera-Porter back in the top preference group, apologizing for any inconvenience she has been through, according to a Jan. 22 HPHA letter informing her of the appeal ruling.

"After reviewing documents and the file, we just felt it was the right thing to do," said Pamela Dodson, executive assistant for the agency.

Rivera-Porter, whose case was highlighted in an Advertiser story in December, said she was thankful for the ruling but believes she is entitled to housing now.

"Me and my children have been suffering for their mistake," she said yesterday. "We're still suffering."

Unruh said the agency told him that his client was near the top of the wait list, but he didn't know when she might get a unit. Dodson said she didn't know, either.

About 12,000 people are on a wait list for the state's 68 federally subsidized housing projects, totaling more than 5,300 units. The waits average three to six years, but those in the top preference category typically get housing in one to two years.

The agency already has decided to streamline the preference policy to enable it to place people into vacant units quicker, but it hasn't decided what the proposed changes will be. Once that decision is made, the authority will hold public hearings to get feedback on the proposed rules.

One change being considered is treating all homeless residents equally — regardless of where they live — as long as they comply with a social services plan.

Reach Rob Perez at rperez@honoluluadvertiser.com.