It's easy to sympathize with Corona Teo, who lived in public housing with her own three children, and her eldest daughter's two children. And then there is 51-year-old Josephine Wong, a lupus patient, and her 12-year-old daughter.

They are the new faces behind the troubling issue of evictions in Hawai'i's federal public housing program.

After months of nonpayment, both families fell to the year-old fast-track evictions policy of the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawai'i, which runs 68 federal housing projects in the state.

This week, the families were locked out of their units at Kuhio Park Terrace — even before all their appeals were exhausted.

Time, however, is unlikely to have helped. And in these cases, although painful, the right decision was made.

Under the old rules, appeals could have lasted through a Circuit Court hearing that could take four months or more.

Stephanie Aveiro, executive director of HCDCH, said if the families won their appeal, they'd be reinstated immediately. She defended current policies under which the eviction process now lasts about 12 months. That's compared with up to two years under the old rules. Last year, HCDCH evicted 133 families.

But eviction also becomes a fairness issue when other tenants, who abide by their rental agreements, see others not paying rent and stop paying rent themselves."(A lengthy eviction process) undermines the entire subsidized housing program," Aveiro said.

Housing advocates want to restore HCDCH's old policy by passing Senate Bill 3025. But buying time to appeal an eviction isn't the answer. The agency's decision to move more swiftly is the right one.

What's needed now is the development of more transitional shelters for those who find they can't afford public housing. That would also provide a much-needed safety net in an increasingly tight housing market.

We all must feel for Teo and Wong. But the wait list for public housing is 18,000 — and growing.