Office of Information Practices

Opinion Letter No. 92-11
August 12, 1992
Subsidized Housing Program

[OIP Op. Ltr. No. 05-03 partially overrules this opinion to the extent that it states or implies that the UIPA’s privacy exception in section 92F-13(1), HRS, either prohibits public disclosure or mandates confidentiality.]

Applicant waiting lists for the City’s Section 8 rent-subsidized housing program must be made available for public inspection and copying under the UIPA. Although the mailing addresses and home telephone numbers of the applicants must be deleted before the disclosure of the waiting list, the names of the applicants, their numerical ranks, and the yes/no column indicating screening for financial eligibility are not protected by any of the UIPA’s exceptions to required public disclosure. Because the applicants’ names were publicly announced at the lottery to establish the waiting list, and also because there is great public interest in learning whether the waiting list procedure is being followed properly, the public interest in disclosure of the waiting list outweighs the privacy interests of the individual applicants.

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