A successful and uplifting volunteer cleanup project at Kuhio Park Terrace on Saturday demonstrated the power of community in the effort to reverse the deep degradation of public housing that taxpayers provide for those in greatest need.

It also underscored the need to enlist public housing residents in the mission to keep their homes in decent condition and deter vandalism, which makes the job of upkeep that much harder.

There's a proposed bill to fast-track new maintenance assessments and charges to tenants found responsible for vandalism. A veto is both likely and the right move. Anticipated staffing and funding shortages make it unrealistic to meet the implementation deadline in the law.

But that doesn't mean tenants should be off the hook. Fighting vandalism should be pursued through tougher enforcement of laws already on the books.

These are not easy propositions. Discussions can begin of ways to improve surveillance and put teeth in rules against vandalism: Repeated offenses should be grounds for eviction.

But at this point, the emphasis must remain on correcting years of deferred maintenance before a campaign to hold tenants more accountable can reasonably be expected to succeed.

This requires that further progress be made against the backlog of repair and maintenance duties that has left KPT and other public housing complexes in substandard condition for years. Residents are unlikely to treat property with respect if it has been allowed to deteriorate to such an appalling degree.

KPT management and the Hawai'i Public Housing Authority point to some progress — the replacement of water boilers and fixing a chronically leaking pipe, for example. These basic health and safety repairs are still Job One.

Meanwhile, the involvement of the tenants in general upkeep could and should accelerate. A KPT tenants' council should be created, one that could help in enlisting residents in further community projects that are being planned. Such a body also would give residents a voice in their living conditions, critical to all thriving communities.

There's no reason public housing should be excluded from that principle. Decent housing and pride in community are qualities that go hand in hand.