Maui County’s 5,000-home goal could take much longer
Nonprofit director: County is ‘behind the eight ball’ in helping affordable housing advance
Maui County’s goal of building 5,000 affordable homes in five years could end up taking 15 years if more is not done to help move forward affordable housing, the organization behind the county’s Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan said Tuesday.
“If we continue on this path as we have for the past two years, you’re looking at about 15 years to reach that 5,000-unit goal,” said Jeff Gilbreath, executive director of Hawaiian Community Assets, a nonprofit community development organization which put the plan together and presented it in 2021. “We are behind the eight ball, as you folks probably know.”
“I think we are here to consider a project that could help move the needle on that,” Gilbreath said on Tuesday morning at the Maui County Council’s Housing and Land Use Committee, which was also reviewing a 120-unit housing project in Waiehu.
Gilbreath was giving an update on the progress and priorities of the plan in order to help inform the council’s policymaking.
Maui County contracted Hawaiian Community Assets for $300,000 to develop a road map to create 5,000 affordable homes for local households below 120 percent area median income. It assessed and identified 36 priority projects that could start construction in five years. The plan was released in 2021 and involved a team of engineers, planners, builders, financiers, housing counselors, policy analysts and community advocates. It also engaged more than 1,600 residents.
Gilbreath said Tuesday that since July 2021, there have been 675 homes in construction and 943 homes that have been approved for construction, which leaves over 3,000 homes that still need to be built in nearly three years to make the approximately 5,000-unit goal in five years.
Gilbreath said the plan also assumed that 600 units would be accomplished by pilot projects along with rehabilitation of homes and accessory dwellings, and that not all of the housing unit goals would be through new construction.
While hundreds of homes are being built or have been approved, the time it will take to get approved homes into construction and to seek approvals for future projects continue to factor in.
When asked by Council Member Tom Cook what the major hang-ups are in reaching the county’s goal, Gilbreath said it was “process” and “capacity.”
Gilbreath said it is taking around 24 months to get developments such as 100 percent affordable housing projects approved.
He said Hawaii County has a process that takes about half of that time or less.
As for capacity, Gilbreath said there needs to be more staffing in the county Department of Housing and Human Concerns. He said work should be done now to prepare for the separation of the department, which in July 2024 will be divided to create a department dedicated to housing.
Gilbreath also made recommendations that could assist with speeding up the approval process, including approving priority projects at full council and referring them to committee only if they do not pass, which reduces the process timeline by an estimated six months.
He said that the county should also increase funding for its Affordable Housing Fund to expand eligible uses to target real needs of local families.
Recommended actions also include dedicating $13.2 million in the fiscal 2024 budget for deferred payment loans and $750,000 for individual development accounts.
In working toward its policy priorities, the county has done well in four different areas: amending its real property tax code to generate $58 million into the Affordable Housing Fund annually to repay bonds, establishing a local residency requirement for affordable housing, enforcing fair housing and fair lending laws and ensuring affordable homes supported with county funds are rented or owned by local residents, Gilbreath said.
He pointed to how the county has moved to create an affordable housing waitlist overseen by the county through Bill 111. The bill would also shift the qualification process for the homes from the developer to the county Department of Housing and Human Concerns, or a designated third party. Other provisions include giving priority for the affordable units to those who have lived on the island the longest.
Housing and Human Concerns Deputy Director Saumalu Mata‘afa told the committee that the department expects to have a request for proposals related to the bill out in the next couple of months.
On Tuesday, the committee also took up review of the Hale Mahaolu Ke Kahua Residential Workforce Rental Housing project, which proposes 120 affordable rental units in Waiehu. The committee completed and closed its oral public testimony portion on Tuesday and recessed the meeting until 9 a.m. Thursday.