Homestead nonprofit expands to Maui with addition of eight affordable housing rental units

The nonprofit Homestead Community Development Corporation (HCDC) added eight housing units on Maui to its housing portfolio over the last six months. The rental units (located in Wailuku, Lahaina and Kīhei) are first dedicated to wildfire impacted families over the next three years; and then to permanently affordable rental units for Maui citizens.

Five of the eight rental units are currently occupied with Lahaina families that lost their homes, with the remaining three units under renovation and soon to be occupied.  

HCDC launched its Permanently Affordable Rental Unit Strategy in 2021, to contribute solutions to the crisis of lack of affordable rental inventory.  Its first projects were located on Kauaʻi. With the Maui wildfires, the program expanded to Maui this year.

HCDC has four two-bedroom rental units in Wailuku, a three-bedroom home in Lahaina, and two three-bedroom homes and a two-bedroom home in Kīhei.

“We have an excellent housing team on Maui, and wonderful nonprofit capital partners in Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC), Hawaiian Lending & Investments (HLI) and TiLeaf Group,” said Kara Chow, HCDC Co-Executive Director. “We’ve all worked well together to bring eight rental units/homes to Maui in such a short amount of time.”

NeighborWorks America, Enterprise Community Partners, Rural LISC, Oweesta Corporation and the Katly Foundation provided valuable resources and technical expertise to the HCDC work creating housing solutions for families of the Maui wildfires, and to the low-to-moderate income citizens on Maui in the years ahead.

“We also want to mahalo the Maui County Council and Mayor Bissen, for contributing affordable housing funds this year toward PARUS housing in the West Maui region,” said Lilia Kapuniai, HCDC board Chairwoman. “Our PARUS model organizes a long-term capital stack of public, private and philanthropic funding to purchase properties on market, to redirect them to permanently affordable use.”

HCDC was founded in 2009 by the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations to advance solutions in affordable housing, economic development and homestead community capacity building. It develops affordable housing, community facilities and promotes capacity building of homestead associations statewide.

The SCHHA was founded in 1987 as a coalition of self-governing homestead associations, defined in federal regulations at 43 CFR Part 48.6 and exercising sovereignty on Hawaiian Home Lands. SCHHA unifies homestead and waitlist leaders residing on or enrolled under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act through a five-member SCHHA Council representing five Mokupuni Regions statewide.