For two years, the state housing agency has only spent about half of a $1.3 million annual appropriation aimed at helping low-income people pay their rent.

This despite a lengthy waiting list for help.

The unspent money goes back to the state General Fund — an impermissible waste, housing advocates say, given the tight housing market and high rents in Hawai'i.

"The basic problem appears to be lack of resources, staff or otherwise, to implement the program," said Michael Ullman, an advocate for the homeless, who has questioned the housing authority on the program. "They should be shooting to use it all up."

The criticism comes as the state housing agency is also catching heat for the number of vacancies and slow unit turnaround at public housing. Other housing-administered programs are also under scrutiny, which contributed to the department's reorganization in July to split from a housing development arm.

In 2005, the Hawai'i Public Housing Authority spent $698,181 on rent subsidies — 52 percent of the total appropriation for the state Rent Supplement Program.

So far this year, the housing agency has spent 42 percent of the total.

The authority said about 376 households are currently in the program. About 813 applicants are on the waiting list to get in, and the average wait is 12 to 14 months, said housing authority interim director Patti Miyamoto.

Miyamoto said she is working to improve the program's efficiency, but also said the appropriation is difficult to spend because of the time and work involved in verifying eligibility, especially with a limited staff and resources.

Participants must already live in a home and it must be an appropriate size for their family. Also, subsidies top at $160, she said.

The housing office lobbied legislators to take away the cap in the last legislative session, but was unsuccessful.

However, the program was tweaked to allow participants who are also on welfare to get subsidies, where in the past they had been banned.

In 2000 and 2001, the housing agency spent most of the money — $1.6 million and $1.3 million, respectively — that was appropriated. Spending declined in 2002 to $803,472 and hovered around $700,000 in 2003 and 2004.

The appropriation has stayed between $1.3 million and $1.6 million over the years.

The subsidies are not related to the Rental Housing Trust Fund or to the federally-funded Section 8 program, which gives households a subsidy to cover most of their rent.

"It was designed as a kind of a modest subsidy," said Ullman, of the Institute for Human Service. "This is another example of the need for more transparency and access to progress on the various programs they (the housing authority) run.

"That can't be tolerated."

State Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Human Services, said she thinks staff members from other state Department of Human Services offices should be temporarily transferred to the program to help increase spending.

She has contacted DHS with the suggestion, and is awaiting a response.

"It's not because we don't have enough money. It's because we don't have enough staff," she said, adding that the program can help keep people off the streets. "It's prevention, because a lot of folks are experiencing close to homelessness."

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.