LIHUE — The Kauai County Housing Agency is moving forward with plans for the county’s first affordable senior housing project in Lihue after an environmental assessment found no significant adverse cultural or environmental impacts. “The county is very excited about
LIHUE — The Kauai County Housing Agency is moving forward with plans for the county’s first affordable senior housing project in Lihue after an environmental assessment found no significant adverse cultural or environmental impacts.
“The county is very excited about this opportunity to provide affordable housing right here in Lihue, especially for the elderly,” Kauai County Housing Agency Director Kamuela Cobb-Adams said. “I think it’s going to be a great project for Kauai.”
Current development plans, according to the 422-page report prepared by Kamuela, Big Island-based consulting firm Environet, Inc., call for construction of 60 housing units — 38 one-bedroom, 649-square-feet units and 22 two-bedroom, 829-square-feet units — on 5.2 acres of land at 4203 Malama Street and 2940 Kalena Street in Lihue.
These plans include development of a community center with laundry facilities, community gardens, landscaped open spaces, and the future construction of another 24-unit building across both parcels of land.
The total housing units, according to the report, may accommodate 80 to 100 senior residents.
Initial project plans called for the full build-out of all 84 units, but Cobb-Adams said the state’s competitive nonprofit tax credit approval process coupled with water availability issues forced the county and Kailua, Oahu-based developer Vitus Development LLC to divide the project into two phases.
“The preferred alternative is not anticipated to result in cumulative effects; therefore, it would not involve a commitment to larger actions,” the report read.
The project area, also known as Rice Camp, was used to house migrant plantation workers in the early 1900s, when Kauai’s sugar industry was still booming.
Cobb-Adams said the land, which changed hands a number of times over the years, was purchased by the county for $2.3 million from San Mateo, Calif.-based Westridge Properties, LLC in October 2012 to specifically address affordable senior housing needs.
The county, he said, will leverage the ground lease on the two properties and $1.25 million in allocated U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development HOME funds from the state to request an additional $15 to $16 million in HUD funding.
The development’s proposed location is particularly convenient, Cobb-Adams said, because it runs along main The Kauai Bus transit routes and is close to essential amenities in Lihue.
These housing units, according to the report, will only be available to rent for qualifying seniors who earn 60 percent or less of the area median income of $63,690, according to 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data.
What’s more, current federal and state laws only allow for the sole occupancy of a unit by persons who are 55 or older or at least one person who is older than 55 to reside in at least 80 percent of the occupied units.
Cobb-Adams said the need for these senior housing opportunities is even more pressing in Hawaii where a rise in older populations and soaring home prices have put an increasing amount of pressure on local families and affordable housing groups.
In all, people 65 and older account for 19 percent of Lihue’s population, according to 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data.
“Costs have continuously risen, especially in Hawaii — it’s expensive to live, buy land and buy materials here,” Cobb-Adams said. “Affordable housing is always a challenge here. The median income and the median housing price have definitely grown apart consistently over the years because there is a lot of outside demand. People are willing to pay a lot, so it’s hard to compete with outside money.”
