LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i County Council is one step away from approving a revamped Housing Policy.
Last Wednesday, the Housing and Intergovernmental Relations Committee recommended approval at second and final reading, to the full Council on Draft 5 of Bill No. 2774, also known as Ordinance 860 and the Housing Policy.
The bill was originally introduced in January by committee chair KipuKai Kuali‘i and Council Chair Arryl Kaneshiro, and has undergone four iterations up until this point.
The bill, in its fifth form, that will head to the council establishes a workforce housing range from 80% and below the Kaua‘i median household income to 120%. That’s an income of $54,400 for a single person at 80% and $77,700 for a family of four, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The bill also places a 50-year restriction period that allows the county to buy-back the affordable housing properties from homeowners. This allows the county first-dibs in purchasing these types of homes, which Housing Agency Director Adam Roversi said would be given the ability to be bought by somebody on the county’s homebuyer’s list.
Town core exemptions to homes built in Lihu’e, Kalaheo and Koloa town cores, only if they build at the maximum density allowed, as well as a dedication of land-in lieu or payment of an in-lieu fee may satisfy the workforce housing assessment, are also in this draft of the bill.
Council Vice Chair Ross Kagawa introduced a final amendment, supported by the administration, that allows the Housing Agency to approve a development with 50% affordable housing development of more than 10 units by waiving unit count and income limits.
The bill voted out of committee was passed to the council with all in favor except for councilmember Felicia Cowden, who offered her own amendment.
In it, Cowden proposed removing all town core exemptions, reducing the 30% affordability requirement to 15% across the board and a 30-year restriction period, up from 20 years in the original draft but down from 50 years from the fourth draft. Cowden spoke with developers and affordable housing advocates and introduced this bill as a middle ground.
Roversi said he did not support the amendment, and it failed, with Cowden as the only member in favor.
Former mayor JoAnn Yukimura wrote to the council urging them to not exempt town cores and multi-family developments from affordable housing requirements, to not reinstate the 140% area median income range, and removing a “bias” toward single-family housing.
“Bill 2774 is the most important piece of legislation of this year and one that will have impact for years on perhaps the most important issue facing our families,” Yukimura wrote. “Please take the time to do it right.”
Roversi said these would push the bill back to the public hearing stage, and the agency would not support that.
“From the Housing Agency’s perspective, it had always been our intention that the amendments that were brought to council with (committee) chair Kuali’i and (council) chair Kaneshiro back in January, we always knew that was the first step of review of the further sections of the Housing Policy,” Roversi said. “So it was never our intention that the amendments that are currently before the council are the final answer to solving our housing problems. We always viewed this as the first step in the process.”
Kuali‘i acknowledged that the policy doesn’t address everything, and the council was limited to what it started with, but from his perspective, it was a good start.
The council will review the bill next Wednesday, Oct. 21 for a final vote.
