The wind picks up. A light, chilly rain starts to fall. And still the circle of people assembled on a tiny lawn at Palolo Valley Homes remains, well past dusk, to vent their frustrations about what their housing project has become and talk about what they're going to do about it.

The group — about 15 strong — are leaders and friends of the Palolo Valley Homes resident association, one of the most active tenant associations in the state. They are brooding about the state's decision late last year to take over management of the housing project from a private contractor — a change, they say, that has worsened crime in Palolo Valley Homes and left them feeling helpless.

But the association isn't just complaining. It has a plan.

In recent talks with the Hawai'i Public Housing Authority, the association has proposed taking over management of the housing project — a job that entails everything from overseeing small repairs and yard duty to making sure that rent is paid and tenants are getting along. Though the housing authority has not embraced the idea, officials have also not thrown it out completely, which gives residents some hope.

Resident-based management has never been tried at public housing projects in the Islands, but the association says it's about time it was.

Desiree Kihano, the Palolo association's representative to the HPHA Resident Advisory Board, said residents know better than anyone else what the issues are that need to be addressed and how to address them.

"We're asking to be able to manage ourselves," Kihano said, after the association lawn gathering at Palolo Valley Homes.

If Palolo Valley residents succeed in taking over management at the housing project, it could spur other associations to do the same — a move that some Hawai'i advocates believe could strengthen communities and, ultimately, improve life in public housing complexes.

RESIDENT MANAGEMENT

Resident management dates to the 1970s nationally, when public housing tenants — angry about maintenance backlogs and rising crime — pushed to grab a bigger stake in turning housing developments around.

The 1980s saw great interest in resident-based management from tenants, advocates and housing officials, but the push to move to tenant management dropped off in the 1990s after studies found that tenant management produced mixed results and few additional benefits compared with conventional state- or privately contracted management. The studies also pointed out that resident management required significant upfront costs for training, though it did leave tenants feeling more empowered.

In Hawai'i, private contractors manage 36 of the 83 public housing properties statewide. The state manages the rest.

HPHA executive director Chad Taniguchi said it's unclear why private management contractors were brought in for some housing projects and not others, but he suspects it was a funding issue.

"It's been done for the last 30 years," he said, adding that the decision to change management at Palolo Valley Homes from private to state was also a funding issue and part of a review of private management contracts at projects statewide.

STATE CONCERNS

Private management contracts run from $280,000 to upwards of $1 million a year.

But private management is not privatization because HPHA still oversees management companies, continues to make large-scale renovation decisions and handles eviction proceedings, among other things. Some, including several lawmakers, have expressed concerns about private management companies, saying HPHA is not ensuring they are fulfilling their contracts.

Members of the Palolo Valley Homes association, however, said private management worked well at the complex.

Their complaints with state management at Palolo Valley Homes, which took over in November, include: