Kahului residency seat
Deb Kaiwi
Reasons for running, goals:
My desire is for all of us to thrive in these trying times despite the many post COVID-19 challenges that we may face as individuals and as a community. I have chosen to run for our Maui County Council to develop and support bills that will effect change for identified needs in the Kahului and Maui Nui community that I have resided in since 1984. Housing crisis:
The high price of housing is caused by basic demand and supply. There is great demand and far too little supply. Therefore, the prices of homes are high. I will initiate policies to help lower the cost of building homes and incentivize development of new homes; zone more land for housing development on the lower plains as indicated in the 2012 Maui Island Plan; collaborate with the developers and county workers to create a more efficient system to streamline rules, regulations and approvals for housing development; and entice new developers and builders on Maui to build competition.
Economy:
We can encourage new products through cottage industries, grow hemp and create industries with it. Market Maui as a remote working destination for Silicon Valley.
Tasha Kama
Reasons for running, goals:
I decided to run in 2018 because I felt that not enough was being done to increase housing opportunities for our residents. I believed that the affordable housing issue was not that complicated and was confident with my passion, political will and faith in God that I could move the “mountain” called housing. I felt sure that more units could be built and the affordable housing situation would be solved. My reason for running is to serve my community to the best of my ability regardless of the political fallout. My goal is to eliminate homelessness and increase housing opportunities for local residents.
Housing crisis:
According to the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. it is “due to current and projected lack of affordable housing units for its residents.” In other words, poor planning. Maui County has many housing units that are operating as short-term rentals, reducing the number of long-term housing units for our residents. There’s also the high cost of land, infrastructure and materials, not to mention government regulation, land use designations, zoning and permitting processes. Maui County needs 10,404 housing units by 2025. To increase that many units we need to build vertically for households who are at or below 80 percent area median income.
Economy:
We need to restart our economy by investing huge amounts of money, personnel, education, training, equipment, supplies and experts into what we are considering to be the new emerging local economies. We should reduce our dependency on importing goods and work on becoming self-sustaining. We need to open the county with as many safeguards as possible and put people back at work. Tourism can still play a role in our economy, but we need to to manage it through education, policy and maybe rule- making to limit the numbers of visitors per resident, boundaries and signage.
Carol Lee Kamekona
Reasons for running, goals:
Seeing a new Maui of the 21st century with innovative technology, a growing economy that’s thriving agriculturally and an influx of job opportunities. Young families realizing homeownership. That’s why I have decided to run for office. PreCOVID days will be a thing of the past. So how do we achieve all this? It’s going to take collaborative effort and partnerships to sit at the table and provide ideas and network together.
Housing crisis:
There are so many reasons, I believe, causing the housing crisis we are currently experiencing. From too many second home investments from off-island owners for commercial in