Ken Rainforth was appointed director of the County Housing Agency this week and will start work March 1. Currently he is serving as the executive on housing. The housing director position was established last year after the Offices of Community
Ken Rainforth was appointed director of the County Housing Agency this week and will start work March 1. Currently he is serving as the executive on housing.
The housing director position was established last year after the Offices of Community Assistance was dissolved. OCA was formed in 1999, bringing the Agency on Elderly Affairs and the Housing and Transportation agencies under one department.
Now the three agencies are separate again and are led by mayoral appointees.
“Ken has been with the Housing Agency for nearly 29 years. I am very confident of his ability to lead the agency,” Mayor Bryan Baptiste said. “With Ken at the helm, I believe that our much-needed affordable housing projects will continue to move forward expeditiously.”
Over the next few years, Rainforth plans to dedicate much of his efforts toward several key affordable housing projects, including the expansion of Pa‘anau Village, a county-owned rental complex in Koloa; a senior housing project in Kapa‘a; and a large project in ‘Ele‘ele.
“Hopefully, we can move all of these projects out of the pre-development phase and into the construction phase in the next few years,” Rainforth said.
During his 29-year tenure with the Housing Agency, Rainforth has been involved in the development of nearly all of Kaua‘i’s affordable housing projects, as well as the implementation and servicing of first-time homebuyer mortgage loans and low-cost home repair programs.
He has also been responsible for administering Kaua‘i’s Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnership housing, and HUD Section 8 rental housing assistance programs.
After Hurricane ‘Iniki, Rainforth was instrumental in establishing the Pakui Housing Program, which utilized $41 million of federal disaster housing funds to build a number of projects including: 20 self-help homes in Hokulei Estates in Puhi; Hale Kupuna in Kalaheo, Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Senior Apartments in Lihu‘e, Kalepa Village; Kilauea Estates, Lihu‘e Court Townhomes and Waimea Traditional Living.
He is a graduate of Punahou School and received a bachelor’s degree in environmental design from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.
