Stephanie Aveiro, executive director of the Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawai'i, announced her retirement yesterday at the agency's board meeting.

The HCDCH is the state public housing agency. It focuses on providing affordable housing.

Aveiro has been HCDCH executive director since December 2003. She will remain on the job until December, or until a successor is identified, the agency said.

During her tenure, the agency increased the number of affordable-housing projects funded through the state's rental housing trust fund, according to a news release from the agency.

Recent efforts include the "Next Step" transitional homeless shelter in Kaka'ako and using community volunteers to help repair vacant public housing units.

200 SOLDIERS SET TO RETURN TODAY

About 200 Marines and Navy personnel were scheduled to return this morning to Marine Corps Base Hawai'i at Kane'ohe Bay following a five-month deployment to Afghanistan.

The Marines and sailors with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, were scheduled to return about 6:45 a.m. today.

On Thursday about 300 Marines and sailors from the unit were welcomed home at the base.

Three Marines and a Navy corpsman from the battalion were killed in Afghanistan.

STATE WARNS OF PHONY CONTRACTOR

The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is warning people about a man who has been posing as a licensed contractor on O'ahu and leaving repair jobs unfinished.

Bienvenido Pedro Jr. was fined $14,446 this month for unlicensed contracts on three job sites in Mililani, according to the department's Regulated Industries Complaints Office.

Pedro often uses a fictitious corporation, J&H Construction Inc., and a license number that does not belong to him, the department said.

"Homeowners need to beware of phony contractors," said Jo Ann Uchida, a complaints and enforcement officer at the department.

Uchida said consumers should always check whether a contractor's license number is legitimate.