Maui County Council approves lease for rental housing in Nā Hale Kūpuna Project

Maui County Council members adopted a resolution Friday that authorizes the lease of a County-owned, one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment on Lower Main Street in Wailuku to an elder displaced by the August 2023 wildfires.

The adopted resolution is part of the Nā Hale Kūpuna Project, coordinated by Maui County’s Community Development Block Grant office. The program is funded by the CDBG office and CARES Act money.

The program affects kūpuna impacted by the wildfires who are eligible for low-income senior housing in the initiative launched by the nonprofit J. Walter Cameron Center. The project is aimed at addressing Maui’s desperate lack of affordable housing, especially after the wildfire disaster.

Overall, the project offers seven long-term condominium units in West, Central and South Maui. The one- and two-bedroom units provide stable housing for households of one to five people.

Eligibility requirements include being at least 62 years old, having had a primary residence in Lahaina at the time of the wildfires and demonstrating that fire damage rendered the residence uninhabitable. Additionally, households must have a combined gross annual income at or below 80% of the area median income.

Applications were accepted Dec. 3 through Dec. 20. Applicants were taken up on a first-come, first-served basis.

Rent is capped at 30% of household income, with minimum rents of $300 for one-bedroom units and $400 for two-bedroom units. Leases are for 12 months, with an option to extend.

For more information, visit https://jwcameroncenter.org or contact the Nā Hale Kūpuna Project at 808-244-5546.

In other action, council members:

• Approved a resolution authorizing settlement of Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi and American Bird Conservancy v. Hawaiian Electric Co., Maui Electric Co. and County of Maui, involving endangered seabirds. Resolution 25-46 gives the Department of the Corporation Counsel authority to negotiate a settlement under the terms discussed in executive session with council members.
• Voted to pass on first reading Bill 11, which provides for the Department of Public Works to receive $2,574,250 from the US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service for technical and financial assistance for the Kulanihakoi Stream Sediment Removal Emergency Watershed Protection Project.
• Voted to pass on first reading Bill 12, which adds $112,478 to the Maui Police Department’s budget for replacement of an obsolete Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer for use in forensic drug analysis.
• Passed on first reading Bill 13 and Bill 14 to provide general obligation bond funding for Maui County’s purchase of the Von Tempsky family property for the Kula Community Center property.
• Approved on second-and-final reading Bill 4, which amends the Maui County fiscal 2025 budget to add $470,000 for the Maui Police Department’s “state and federal assets forfeiture program” for the department’s helicopter operations.
• Passed on second-and-final reading Bill 5, which adds a $6,040 donation from the City of Tombstone, Ariz., to help Maui County’s recovery from the August 2023 wildfires.
• Approved on second-and-final reading Bill 6, which allows the Department of Housing to add six new support personnel to its staff.