A woman who moved from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Santa Maria was denied a Section 8 affordable housing voucher because she failed to complete probation, according to court documents.
In a writ of mandate filed in the Santa Maria Cook Division of Santa Barbara Superior Court on May 3, Suzie Kanakanui alleges that the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara terminated the transfer of her voucher from Hawaii for affordable housing when she moved to California.
According to the court filings, Kanakanui was already receiving Section 8 benefits in Hawaii when she tried to transfer them when she moved to Santa Maria in October 2012.
According to federal law, a voucher can be transferred anywhere in the U.S.
Court documents show that the county housing authority received her application but terminated it in December 2012 after a background check revealed that she hadn’t completed probation in Ventura County for a DUI conviction in 1995.
However, Kanakanui’s sentence was modified and she was instead required to pay $200, which she did.
Kanakanui requested the housing authority to reconsider their decision several times in the following year, but they never responded.
Calls made to the county housing authority weren’t returned before press time.
