Affordable housing needed to aid homeless

Transcription

1 COMMENTARY By DAVID DELEON Realtors Association of Maui Government Affairs Director Maui s affordable housing crisis does not appear to be as bad as Honolulu s. But for the folks needing housing, it is bad nonetheless. The current best guesstimate of the number of homeless people living here is about 2,000. They are not as visible as their Honolulu compatriots, perhaps because we have more undeveloped open space to disappear into, but they are here nonetheless. Kellie Pali-Cruz NMLS: President/Mortgage Loan Originator Definition of paying rent To assist someone else with paying off their mortgage If you can pay rent, you may be ready to buy a home for you and your family Call me and work with someone you can trust... Realtor s Choice Award Recipient in 2008 from Realtors Association of Maui Named Hawaii s TOP Mortgage Professional by Honolulu Magazine for HIGHEST Ranked in Customer Service and Satisfaction for TOP 6% in this field. Over 15 Years of lending here in Maui Native Hawaiian, born and raised on Maui Kellie@CreativeFinancialHawaii.com 320 Ohukai Road, Suite 413 Kihei, HI (808) HOMES UNDER CONSTRUCTION! A&B P ROPERTIES, I NC. There is a much bigger population crammed onto family properties or into make-shift tenements, and even more who are paying over half of their paychecks just to keep a roof over their heads. Realtors tell us that this housing cycle has reached the point that when an ordinary working-class house comes on the market, bidding wars frequently break out. A Makawao house ambitiously priced at $495,000 drew 10 offers in two days, with the lowest offer being full price. Such stories reflect supply and demand. Maui has not kept up with demand by building new homes, so we are short on Affordable housing needed to aid homeless supply. That means prices will continue to increase. The numbers DeLeon have been bleak. Both state and county projections say that we should be building about 1,400 residential units a year, just to keep up with natural population growth. In the last five years, Maui s residential housing building permits have averaged under 300. Meanwhile, our resident population continues to grow at a 5 percent clip, to 163,019 (as of September), increasing demand on the existing housing. Lots Starting at $1,450,000 Enclave of only 9 premium half acre home sites with spectacular ocean and outer island views located at the highest elevations within the Wailea Resort. The good news is that Maui has started to come to grips with this situation and there are positive signs on the housing front. The biggest barrier to housing development, ironically, was a County Workforce Housing Ordinance that was passed in 2006 to address the lack of affordable housing. The basic assumption underlining this law was that developers would do whatever it takes to get permission to build on Maui. So, if the County Council required that 50 percent of a project s homes fits into an incomedetermined affordability range, then developers would comply. By and large, housing developers are not The Real Estate Store Maui Mall 70 E. Kaahumanu Ave. A6 Kahului, HI Attitude is a little thing that makes a BIG DIFFERENCE!!!! A Supplement of THE MAUI NEWS Friday, October 23, 2015 Page T4 S TACEY T. S LY Realtor R(S) ssly@slypropertiesofmaui.com I Take the Stress out of Buying & Selling The Shops At Wailea 3750 Wailea Alanui Dr., Ste B16 Wailea, Maui, HI Office brad@wailearealty.com philanthropists. They need to make a living, so when they factored in that 50 percent requirement, most simply quit trying to build on Maui. Last December, after a community-based campaign that pointed out to the Maui County Council that the 50 percent requirement had been a dismal failure, that 50 percent of zero is zero, the council reduced the affordability requirement to 25 percent. Almost immediately the residential building permit numbers shot up to more than 500 dwelling units in the first quarter alone. on Page 6 Bradley S. MacArthur Principal Broker/Owner Direct: (808) All about timing: Is renting the right move? Ahome is a big investment, and when it comes time to move, selling may seem like the most logical solution. However, it isn t always that simple. If you re relocating temporarily or the market is down, renting might be the better option. There are pros and cons to selling and renting, and you must think through your decision carefully. Selling depends upon the answers to several questions. Do you like your home? Would you like to return to it someday? Would it serve your needs in the future? Are houses selling in the area? If not, can you afford to wait to see if your home will sell? Can you carry the costs of two homes for a few months? No? Could you if you had a renter? Renting also depends upon the answers to several questions. Are property values going up in the area, making it worth your while to keep the house? Is there a demand for rental property in the area? If so, are you ready to be a landlord and be responsible for more than one home? Do you have the time to locate good tenants and keep the rental property in working condition? If not, can you afford to hire a company to do it for you? There are management companies that will oversee everything on a rental property, from finding potential See RENT OR SELL on Page 12

2 Continued from Page 4 Correcting the Workforce Housing barrier was an essential first step to getting our affordable housing production up, but community advocates recognized that there is a lot more to do. There needs to be a more comprehensive approach to promoting the level of housing development to meet the community s level of demand. At the beginning of the year, the Realtors Association of Maui s Government Affairs Committee took on the task of trying to identify wide spectrum of wellthought-out responses that the barriers to housing development. RAM put out a fairly open-ended survey to each of which appeared to be dealt with a variety of issues, builders, developers, planners, Realtors, economists own right. a significant barrier in their and government officials. Some of the responses The committee also met with that resonated with the Realtors include: a variety of people in the business, looking for informed responses to the way. It takes too long up Government is in the question of why we were not to 10 years to obtain land building enough homes and use entitlements. what could be done about it. We need to add density, RAM hoped that it would and possibly allowing the redevelopment of existing, find a commonality in the answers that could lead to a older neighborhoods, by increasing zoning from resi- one-shot silver bullet legislative answer. That did not dential to apartment. happen. Instead, it received a Maui is littered with al- North Shore Masterpiece This custom designed oceanfront estate incorporates traditional kama aina living on the spectacular North Shore of Maui. 4 bed, 4.5 bath, den, office, gym, sauna, steamroom, workshop, 3 car garage and private cottage Ohana with separate gated entry. Minutes from golf, shopping and Mama s Fish House restaurant. Bradley S. MacArthur, Principal Broker ~ Direct: The Shops at Wailea ~ 3750 Wailea Alanui Dr., Ste. B16 ~ Wailea, Maui, HI Office: ready approved affordable housing projects that have never gotten off the ground. But no one is trying to find out why that is and what it will take to get at least some of them going. Lack of adequate water supply and other infrastructure. Lack of government focus on the problem. There is no one in or around Maui County government whose sole job is to make housing development happen. So problems are not being fixed and opportunities are not being seized. Not in my backyard (NIMBYism). How to deal with community resistance to change and how to accommodate legitimate concerns about traffic, drainage and other impacts that come with increased development without choking off the housing development necessary to accommodate a growing population. GOVERNMENT IS IN THE WAY Economist Paul Brewbaker puts it this way. There are three major components to building housing: 1) land, 2) government entitlements, 3) construction. Government only controls one of those elements: the land use approvals that allow development to happen. So that s the one lever it can apply to affect the cost of housing. Traditionally, land use control has been used in Hawaii to slow the rate of growth, protecting the limited land mass. And that s what happened, despite the fact that Hawaii residents have been living with a chronic lack of housing inventory, which has resulted in some of the highest housing costs in the nation. Hawaii was the first state to establish statewide zoning, overseen by a state Land Use Commission that is supposed to focus on the relatively simple question of whether a property should be in its agricultural, rural, urban or conservation districts. Instead, in a classic example of mission creep, the commission has increasingly been doing in-depth reviews of individual projects. That is in spite of the fact that the county governments also do in-depth project-by-project reviews. This has resulted in redundancy, and in some cases, conflicts between the two levels of government. And it has led to more restrictions on housing supply. Even systems meant to promote affordable housing development often break down at the state level because the focus at the state level is on protecting the rights of neighboring property owners and other parties opposed to development rather than the right of Hawaii residents to have shelter they can afford. In a study released in May of the state land use system, the state Office of Planning did not indicate any realization that the state system played a role in our housing dilemma. That concept is simply not on their radar. on the next page Pineapple Hill Estates, Kapalua MLS $ 2,850,000 (FS) 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath. Mt./Ocean view, heated salt water pool, deluxe gourmet kitchen, with stainless steel appliances, luxurious granite counters and custom cabinetry, gym w/treadmill, elliptical trainers, weights and sauna. 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3 Continued from Page 6 But County Council Planning Chairman Don Couch gets it. The county s Maui Island Plan identifies urban growth boundaries where new housing and other urban growth would happen in the next 20 years. Under the state system, each one of those projects would have to go before the state Land Use Commission individually. That would take decades to accomplish. Couch argues that the commission should review the rationale the county used to designate those lands for urbanization and make a decision on the total proposal, instead of going one project at a time. That would expedite housing development by reducing the governmental review period by decades. That s one way government could get out of the way. INCREASING DENSITY For decades, individual property owners in some of Maui s older neighborhoods have been effectively increasing density by building massive homes that judging from the number of cars and trucks parked outside every night are occupied by a lot of people. While some of these tenements may be outside of the letter of the law, no one in government is going to bother them because the housing they are supplying is irreplaceable. These buildings increase the density in their neighborhood. But to achieve that, they have to build a structure that pretends to be a singlefamily residence. The Realtors and others think the time has come to recognize the need that these individual residences are fulfilling. RAM is arguing that the county should allow owners in neighborhoods like the earlier increments of Kahului where the housing stalk needs to be refurbished or replaced anyway and where the lots are large to redevelop their properties with duplexes, quadplexes and walk-up apartments. The point is, this type of redevelopment is happening anyway, because there is massive demand for lowercost rentals. So why not permit it and control it so there is enough parking and density is spread across the whole community instead of being concentrated on certain properties? County Council Land Use Chairman Bob Carroll has proposed changing the zoning code to reduce the threshold allowing additional dwelling units (ohanas) to 5,000-square-foot properties. The existing code requires that a property be at least 7,500 square feet before an ohana is allowed. In case you think that s too small, the City & County of Honolulu just approved a measure that would allow Additional Dwelling Units on properties as small as 3,500 square feet. Now that s adding density. And it adds it without a big investment from government. HOUSING CZAR The RAM research shows that all of our leaders want to see more housing developed but that no one is really in charge of making that happen. When you talk to the members of the County Council about our lack of housing construction, most will point out that the council has approved a number of projects over the years, but only a few of those approvals actually resulted in housing projects. The Maui Island Plan states that the total number of unbuilt but entitled housing units is 18,744. We wouldn t have a housing shortage if most of those homes were built. But few have been. Some of the council members routinely accuse those developers of playing games. But when you probe, on Page 10 Vanity Laminate Countertop Clearance HARDWARE LUMBER MAUI 823 ALUA STREET WAILUKU INDUSTRIAL PARK Monday-Friday 7:30-4 Sat 8-12 noon Wailea Point Realty Live unlike you ve ever lived before GET YOUR REAL ESTATE LICENSE Check website for new Sales Classes for 2016 Broker Classes coming soon For all your real estate education Pre Licensing Continuing Education Training Live and Online carolballrealestateschool.com Carol Ball, M.Ed Realtor, ABRM, CRB, CRS, GRI carol@carolball.com Keone Ball Principal Broker, Realtor, ABR, CRS, CRB keone@carolball.com A Supplement of THE MAUI NEWS Friday, October 23, 2015 Page T7 Wailea Point Hawaii s Finest Condominium Every time a new property comes along, the excellence of Wailea Point is revealed anew. An owner said, I live in a beautiful garden. Wailea Point is that, and so much more. If you want to live in the finest environment Hawaii, come see how unique and special Wailea Point is. Current listings from $1.85 $9.8M Dave Wagner Principal Broker Direct: Judy Gray Broker in Charge Direct:

4 Continued from Page 7 Sea Sport 26 you quickly find out that no one in the county government actually knows why those projects were not built. No one has knocked on these developers doors and asked them the question: Is there some way to get those projects moving? RAM spoke to the representative of one of these projects and he explained that the high cost of necessary infrastructure, combined with a unique 50 percent affordable housing requirement makes the project, as it is currently configured, a loser for the developer. If the affordable housing component a one-time agreement negotiated independently from the Workforce Housing Ordinance could be lowered, then there would be a possibility of making the numbers work, he suggested. No one knows if the county would be willing to make such a deal, but there is no way of finding out unless a discussion is initiated. There is no one at the county in charge of making those connections. The county does have a department that deals with housing, but more than half of its portfolio also deals with social welfare issues no one specifically assigned the task of getting housing built. Likewise the Planning Department deals with land use approvals and long-range plans, but not actually seeing that housing projects are built. The Public Works Department makes sure the infrastructure is there when the homes are built, but it does not actually build homes. RAM s analysis suggests that someone needs to have the responsibility to see that projects are conceived, problems are resolved and our community actually starts meeting that 1,400- dwelling-unit-a-year demand for homes. And ideally, that person should be allowed to approach the problem like an entrepreneur, instead of as a bureaucrat. NOT IN MY BACKYARD A big problem for those trying to provide shelter for those in need is the resistance to change generated in the surrounding community. This happened a couple of months ago when a nonprofit in West Maui applied for a permit to allow for eight tent campsites on a large agricultural property to accommodate a mix of visitors and transitional homeless. Transitional is descriptive of those homeless folks who are willing and able to get off the streets and beaches and back into regular shelter, if given the opportunity. A representative of the West Maui Homeless Shelter testified that her facility had a 150-person-long waiting list and that 60 of that number were children living without acceptable shelter at the time the proposal was heard by the Maui Planning Commission. The resistance to the proposal was intense and came from residents of the surrounding agricultural community. Some agreed that the project had merit, but just not in their backyard. Their resistance triggered an initial rejection by the commission, two for and four against. (The matter stayed on the table because three commission members were absent, so another vote on the proposal is possible.) Ironically, some in the opposition complained that the nonprofit should be building affordable homes instead of tent camps. It s ironic because the nonprofit is funded through West Maui Land, a development company that had twice previously been turned down for affordable housing projects in the same location, in large part because of neighbor opposition. And the same developer is fighting to keep another 68- unit affordable housing project proceeding nearby despite having a neighbor force the project into Circuit Court. And after losing in court, the neighbor appealed the decision to the state s Intermediate Court of Appeals. So far, in such cases, the government has taken no sides in those fights, as if this is just another case of community resistance to typical development. RAM feels that needs to change if we are going to successfully overcome our housing shortfall. Especially, at the state Land Use Commission level. The commission has an actual policy that the community should have every opportunity to resist development, without making any distinction for affordable housing projects. That distinction needs to be made, as a matter of policy: You can fight a housing project, but you are going to need a really compelling case to win. We are beginning to see that type of policy shift happening at the county level. In a recent case involving a 186-affordable rental project called Kenolio Apartments in Kihei, the neighbors complained that the project was being proposed without agreeing to finish a segment of Kihei s longstalled North-South Collector Road. 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5 Continued from Page 10 getting the approvals to proceed. But the Kenolio project is not ordinary. It is a 186- unit affordable rental, being built for residents with 60 percent of Area Median Income: hotel maids, bus drivers, shop clerks. Before this project, no one was building to serve this population, despite it being the most vulnerable, most likely to end up homeless. And the County Council has made it clear that they want to see it succeed, granting unanimous approval last week. Building and operating a 186-unit affordable rental with strong rent caps is not easy and that was reflected in the concessions the Kenolio developer asked for: highervalue tax credits, deferrals on impact fees and no requirements for off-site infrastructure improvements like the completion of the North- South Collector Road. The council said they got it. The Kenolio Apartments project would be the first of its kind to be built on Maui in recent memory. Maui needs a bunch more like it. So the council indicated that they were willing to do what it takes to approve this project. We need affordable rentals, said Council Member Mike Victorino. Either the county makes it happen the way the developer requested, or it finds some other way, but these projects have to be approved and built, he said. The other members of the council s Land Use Committee agreed, showing the beginnings of a pro-housing policy at least on the county level. David DeLeon, the government affairs director of the Realtors Association of Maui, is a former Maui News reporter and served as an executive assistant to Mayors Linda Lingle and Alan Arakawa. He can be reached at gad@ramaui. com. The Maui News file photo The Maui County Council s Land Use Committee walks through a field that is proposed to be developed to build the Kenolio Apartments last month. KAHULUI 140 Alamaha When it s worth doing right LAHAINA 1058 Limahana BUG MAN TERMITE & PEST CONTROL, INC. TENT FUMIGATION Inspector: Jeffrey Goo PCO-1149 Cell: (808) Office (808) Member HCPA & Maui Con. Assn. PCO 671 Cynthia Feike Executive Loan Officer Cell (808) NMLS ID: Leslene K. Lopez, RB, ABR, SFR, CNAS Mobile: leslene@ponorealestate.com Kahului Branch Queen Kaahumanu Center 275 W Kaahumanu Ave Suite 1045 A Kahului Hawaii Phone: (808) Fax: (808) Each office is independently owned and operated. cynthia.feike@territorialsavings.net 7 E. Kaahumanu Ave., Kahului, HI A Supplement of THE MAUI NEWS Friday, October 23, 2015 Page T11