LIHU‘E — Developers should help provide affordable housing for local residents, housing for employees at resorts, and more land for the construction of such homes, Kaua‘i County Council members said during a meeting of a council committee meeting Thursday. During
LIHU‘E — Developers should help provide affordable housing for local residents, housing for employees at resorts, and more land for the construction of such homes, Kaua‘i County Council members said during a meeting of a council committee meeting Thursday.
During a meeting of the Council’s Planning Committee at the historic County Building, council members said unless those conditions become a reality, more local folks could become homeless or be forced to leave the island.
And people shouldn’t expect government to help out, members said. Federal funds are not easily accessible, and Kaua‘i County has no lands for such projects, they added.
The comments came up came up during the committee’s review of a rezoning proposal by Kukui‘Ula Development Co. (Hawaii) for a 1,002-acre resort, residential and commercial project at Kukui‘ula.
The development company, comprised of subsidiaries of Alexander & Baldwin and DMB Associates Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz., also is proposing to expand a “visitor destination area” designation from 160 acres to the entire 1,002 acres.
But the developer plans to confine the construction of timeshare units to core areas of the proposed project.
Representatives for Kukui‘Ula Development Co. have said that Alexander & Baldwin, when it proposed to develop more than 3,000 units prior to the current proposed project, has more than met a 15 percent affordable housing requirement with the construction of homes at ‘Ele‘ele Nani I and II in West Kaua‘i and other projects.
But times have changed, and the affordable housing situation has reached a crisis, councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura said.
Instead of following a 15-percent housing requirement which the County Housing Agency set by policy, a law should be passed to set a much higher percentage, Yukimura recommended.
The larger percentage would encourage developers to pitch in and help build housing within the buying power of local residents, Yukimura recommended.
She said it might be feasible to set a 25-percent requirement for the 1,500 dwelling units planned by Kukui‘Ula Development.
Imposition of such a condition could mean 375 homes would be built for low-to-moderate income families, employees of the resort, and other buyers, Yukimura said.
A company official has said Kuku‘Ula Development’s main goal is to make a profit, and to sell the lots at the highest prices the market will bear.
Related to any 25-percent affordable housing requirement for the proposed Kukui‘ula project, the affordable homes should be set aside for people in different income ranges, Yukimura said.
Whether a revised figure can be implemented for the project is unknown, as a housing advisory committee could be working with him soon on revising the guidelines for affordable housing, said Ken Rainforth a housing expert with the County Housing Agency.
And it may be six months or longer before any revised guidelines are sent to the council for review, Rainforth said.
Yukimura said she found the current 15 percent affordable housing requirement as being “amorphous,” and wondered how that figure came to be used.
Rainforth said that a range of 10 to 20 percent was reached based on past development projects undertaken by Grove Farm Company and Alexander & Baldwin, and was found to be “usable, applicable and reasonable,” ultimately resulting in the 15-percent figure.
Margy Parker, executive director of the Poipu Beach Resort Association, acknowledged that a slew of resort projects are planned for development in Po’ipu and that they will generate new housing needs.
At the same time, Kukui‘Ula Development leaders should not be held responsible for solving future housing challenges for the entire region, Parker said.
Councilman Jay Furfaro said more local folks could benefit from a provision in the rezoning ordinance for Kukui‘ula that would require the developer to build housing for employees at the resort. With such units in place, “we could get additional relief,” Furfaro said.
Ideally, some of the units could be sold at prices local residents can afford, Furfaro said.
Furfaro also said the developer could help ease the housing shortage in South Kaua‘i by providing more land to the county for future affordable housing projects. The county has no “land bank” at the moment, he said.
Conditions in the proposed rezoning ordnance for the 1,002-acre project call for the developer to provide four acres in an area known as Pa‘anau in Koloa.
In addition, the provision proposes Kaua‘i County leaders have the first crack at buying another five acres for affordable-housing purposes.
In addition to these nine acres, the developer should make available another five acres to the county for affordable-housing projects, Furfaro said.
Furfaro bemoaned the fact that there is no county policy that would require developers to build homes for “gap-group” buyers.
Those folks make too much to qualify for subsidized housing, but don’t make enough to qualify for traditional loans.
Furfaro thanked Rainforth and his staff for following through on myriad affordable housing projects across the island that have benefited residents.
Among them is Kalepa Village in Hanama‘ulu, a four-phase project involving 180 units when built out, Rainforth said.
The first phase, about 60 units, is completely occupied, and the second phase, 40 additional rental apartments, is about to be completed, Rainforth said. Two other phases, totaling 80 units, are planned and require funding, Rainforth said.
Yukimura said while the project helps provide housing to those who really need it, putting the bulk of the county’s affordable housing in one location isn’t a good idea.
“I don’t think it creates a really healthy community,” she said, adding that a community with folks of various incomes “is better.”
Rainforth also noted that an affordable housing project is being planned on 15 acres in Puhi. That project is located by another affordable housing project known as Halelani Village in Puhi, he added.
Grove Farm leaders provided the affordable housing as a condition for the development of other market-oriented projects in the Lihu‘e district.
Rainforth said his agency also is working on the development of a homeless shelter for 20 people, and has “invited” the board of the Kauai Housing Development Corp. to look at becoming involved in “housing tax-credit programs” to build affordably-priced homes.
Yukimura said representatives from the County Housing Agency have done a good job in perpetuating buy-back programs to ensure buildings constructed through government programs remain affordable to average home buyers on Kaua‘i.
But county leaders can unburden themselves by supporting “non-subsidized limited co-op housing programs,” Yukimura aid.
The programs would enable moderate-income folks to get into housing as market-priced homes move beyond their financial reach, Yukimura said.
Through such a program, a developer builds a multi-family unit project that will be taken over by a housing cooperative with a board of directors.
A person wanting to move into the project can pay a share for a residential unit, and while living there, he and his family would pay mortgage interest on a small loan, and property taxes.
The family can save money for their next house, and when the family decides to move on, it gets back its initial investment and a set percentage of increase on that investment.
The cooperative housing concept, carried out successfully in some towns in California, would be a way for the county to provide “permanent” affordable housing for future generations, Yukimura said.
Affordable housing units developed under land-trust programs also would free county officials from having to monitor government-backed housing buy-back programs, Yukimura said.
Staff Writer Lester Chang may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@pulitzer.net.