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A 52-unit affordable housing project on private property in Maili has received most of the city approvals it needs, but it’s still generating friction between the developer and residents of the quiet neighborhood.

Hale Makana O Maili is expected to break ground before the end of this year, according to developer Kali Watson, president of the nonprofit Hawaii Community Development Board. The $23 million project would be open to households earning 30% to 60% of area median income.

It’s the type of project that affordable housing advocates often say is desperately needed on Oahu.

But that’s no solace to some of the residents on Kulaaupuni Street who still hope to stop it. They complain it was rushed through the Honolulu City Council, could make the area more flood-prone and overtax the neighborhood infrastructure.

Watson said the project is already fully financed with help from grants secured from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. and the city, along with state housing tax credits.

The project still needs various building permits from the city, including approval for electrical work and construction.

Part of the conflict seems to stem from a lack of communication between the developer and residents.

Watson said the project has been in the planning phase for four years, and that he’s made at least two appearances at neighborhood board meetings and several other community meetings to gather input.

But several residents, including Kathy Kamada, said they didn’t know about it until they found surveyors walking around their yards in February.

“It’s not as if I read the minutes for neighborhood board meetings every day,” Kamada said.

In April, Watson wrote a six-page response letter to the area residents addressing some of their concerns. Regarding the neighborhood board presentations, Watson said he wasn’t required to provide advance notice.

Watson says he is committed to creating affordable housing units for local families.

The former head of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands also led development of a similar housing project in Nanakuli called Hale Makana O Nanakuli, part of the long-planned Nanakuli Village Center that Watson hopes to finish by December.

Oahu will need over 26,000 additional housing units to meet demand by 2025, according to a 2015 study of housing demand by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Construction Exemptions
Hale Makana O Maili would include five units for people making less than 30% of area median income, 10 units for people making less than 50%, and 36 units for those making less than 60%, plus a unit for an on-site property manager.

At the low end, a family of four would need to make less than $30,100 to qualify.

“Not many guys want to do these kinds of projects,” Watson said.

And not many neighborhoods of mostly single-family homes want an apartment complex in their midst.

“It’s not serving our interests,” resident Gary Shinsato said. “This street alone there’s already a lot of low-income housing.”

About a mile away at the other end of Kulaaupuni Street is a state funded, 78-unit transitional housing project, Villages of Maili, which is run by Catholic Charities of Hawaii and has begun providing services to homeless on Oahu’s Leeward Coast.

Shinsato said that he and the other residents along Kulaaupuni Street aren’t necessarily opposed to more affordable housing, but he takes issue with sorme of the exemptions the city granted the development.

The City Council approved a number of construction exemptions for the project in October, including waiving about $156,118 worth of application and review fees. It also allowed the developer to build the apartment complex in a residential zone, which typically limits the allowed amount of multi-family dwellings.

Resolution 18-206 also exempted Watson’s development from a city ordinance that would otherwise require the development to conform to development standards for concrete sidewalks and gutters.

Watson said he would put in an asphalt sidewalk fronting the housing project. Right now, Kulaaupuni Street just has dirt on both sides of the road.

The council’s resolution, which passed unanimously, also requires construction to start before October 2020.

Councilwoman Kymberly Pine included an amendment in a draft of the resolution that made clear that the development meets the minimum health and safety requirements to receive the exemptions under state law, according to minutes of the October City Council meeting.

Pine did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Shinsato said he wants the development scaled back to comply with the usual residential zoning restrictions, similar to four duplexes several lots over from Hale Makana O Maile. He also said the residents want better infrastructure, like gutters and sidewalks, if the development is built.

“That’s all the community is asking for,” he said.

The site is in Maili’s tsunami evacuation zone.

Watson said that the 71-stall parking lot would have an exit onto Milikami Street in case evacuation is required.

Neighbors are also concerned about traffic. They say the narrow Kulaaupuni Street could become congested once the apartments go up.

There could be an additional 439 vehicular trips daily coming out of Hale Makana O Maili, according to a study conducted by traffic consultants Fehr & Peers.

Watson said he wants to work with the community to place speed bumps along the street to slow down drivers.

‘Make It A Better Neighborhood’
While the project may appear to be on a fast track with the council-granted exemptions, it took him four years to compile reviews and studies to apply for those exemptions from the city, he said.

Watson noted that while the development would provide affordable housing, it’s not public housing.

“The idea is to make it a better neighborhood and a better place and ideally get some of the homeless people off the street,” Watson said.

The 2-acre parcel where Hale Makana O Maili is to be built was previously owned by Team Real Estate, a property management company based in Haleiwa and Makaha. Property documents show the sale was completed in 2018 for $2.25 million.

The property currently has 10 houses on it. Four of them on the mauka side would be demolished, and residents in three of them were given 90 days to vacate earlier this year, said Realtor Maria Abella. One tenant is still on the property looking for a place to move to.

Watson said he’s required by federal law to provide the tenants with financial assistance for their relocation.

The other six houses on the makai side of the property are supposed to be refurbished and then sold at market rate, according to the environmental assessment on the project. Those houses still have tenants living in them, like Megan and Iokepa Waialae, who moved in about a year ago.

The Waialaes hope they won’t have to move.

“We like it. Nobody bothers. It’s real low-key. We got a big yard,” Megan Waialae said. “If they give us the option to buy, we’d like that opportunity.”

A South Lake Tahoe affordable housing complex is currently undergoing a $15-million renovation.

Sierra Garden Apartments, located at 1801 Lake Tahoe Blvd., is jointly owned by Pacific Development Group, a Lodi-based affordable housing developer, and St. Joseph Community Land Trust, a local nonprofit.

St. Joseph Community Land Trust was established in 2002 “in response to the rising housing costs and the negative impacts of these costs to the broad social fabric, well-being, and sustainability of communities around Lake Tahoe,” according to the organization. The faith-based membership organization acquires real estate and develops housing programs to assist those who might not otherwise be able to afford a home in the basin. The funds are raised through membership fees, donations, tax credits and grants.

St. Joseph Community Land Trust became an owner of the 76-unit affordable housing complex in 2004, at which time a few upgrades were made to the apartments.

“The reason that we were brought into it back in 2004 is that the deed restriction for the affordability was expiring,” said Cathy Kope, executive director for the land trust. “We were instrumental in keeping those 76 units at an affordable rent as opposed as going to market rate which could have very well happened.”

Now the land trust has raised $15 million through Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and tax-exempt bonds to remodel the units, including improvements to kitchens, bathrooms, floor coverings, fresh paint, new wall heaters and LED lighting fixtures. Eight of the units will become 100-percent ADA accessible.

Construction will continue into 2018 with the creation of a new resident activity center with computer stations, drought-resistant landscaping and new BBQ areas.

“It is the mission of St. Joseph Community Land Trust to provide quality and affordable housing for the community,” said Lyn Barnett, St. Joseph Community Land Trust board president. “This project improves the living conditions of the residents and the new activity center and common areas will help create a greater sense of community.”

Sierra Garden Apartments is not the only way the land trust is working to create more affordable housing.

Back in 2004, St. Joseph Community Land Trust took a parcel donated by the city of South Lake Tahoe and built a three-bedroom, deed-restricted home for a moderate-income family.

“What the community land trust model does with the program we have right now, it keeps the housing affordable by taking the land out of the purchase price,” explained Kope. “At the time of that sale, the unimproved land was appraised at $140,000 and by taking that out of the purchase price we were able to sell that house in Al Tahoe for just under $270,000. So the land trust maintains title to just the land and then the home buyer leases the land from us by paying a monthly ground lease fee to the land trust.”

If the house goes on the market, it must be sold to another moderate-income family.

Currently the land trust is growing its housing fund in order to purchase and rehabilitate another property in the Tahoe Basin. The organization is also looking into a “homeowner initiated program.”

“That’s a program where a home buyer can come in and select a home that they want in a neighborhood of their choosing and the land trust could possibly come in with public-private partnerships to purchase the land and then that would come out of the purchase price as far as what the buyer has to come up with,” explained Kope.

Pismo Beach could soon be home to another set of affordable housing units.

At a meeting on April 7, Pismo Beach City Council unanimously voted to begin negotiations with the Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo (HASLO) regarding a proposed mixed-use senior housing project at 2655 Shell Beach Road. Although the potential project has a long way to go before it’s officially approved, council members showed overwhelming support for the initial proposal.

“This particular housing plan is exactly what I’ve been looking for for a long, long time,” Councilmember Sheila Blake said at the April 7 meeting, later adding, “These places are desperately needed.”

If approved, the project would include 21 affordable one-bedroom senior apartments, one two-bedroom manager’s unit, a 1,030-square-foot common space, a manager’s office, laundry facilities, and a 550-square-foot retail space, according to a city staff report. The proposed location is close to shopping and public transit, the facility wouldn’t block coastal access or views, and the housing units would be reserved for seniors earning 60 percent of the area’s median income or less.

The city first discussed the possibility of such a project in November 2019, when Pismo passed its fifth cycle Housing Element and fell into compliance with the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s housing regulations. After a Planning Commission review of HASLO’s conceptual plan for the project on Feb. 25, HASLO requested that Pismo commit housing in-lieu fee funds, which could be used to leverage state funds and low-income housing tax credits, to help finance the project.

The HASLO project is similar to another Pismo is working on with Peoples’ Self-Help Housing (PSHH) on 4th Street in Pismo Beach, according to Community Development Director Jeff Winklepleck. Pismo’s housing in-lieu fee fund is currently made up of about $3 million reserved for supporting housing projects, $2 million of which is already going to the PSHH project. With City Council’s April 7 approval, at least some portion of the remaining $1 million will be dedicated to the proposed HASLO project, Winklepleck said.

Although council members had some concerns regarding cash flow and funding, considering the financial hit Pismo Beach is taking due to the coronavirus pandemic, city staff assured them that the project is within the city’s means.

“I’m really excited about this project,” Mayor Ed Waage said at the meeting. “I think it’s a great fit for that location, it’s a great fit for our community, and I’m really looking forward to moving forward with it.”