Housing & Real Estate

Calling it “innovative” and unique, a Maui County Council committee on Tuesday recommended approval for a 100% workforce neighborhood in Wailuku, which would include 202 diverse houses for sale — from tiny homes to live-work townhomes. Maui County Council’s Affordable Housing Committee voted 9-0 to recommend approval with modifications for Kuikahi Village, a project by Alaula Builders set for 14 acres mauka of Honoapi’ilani Highway and adjacent to Kuikahi Drive. 

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The median sales price for single-family homes dropped below $1 million — to $983,575 — for the first time this year. However, the median sales price for Maui County condominiums spiked last month to a new record high of $820,000, partly driven by luxury condo sales in Wailea/Mākena, Kapalua and Kāʻanapali.

Despite opposition from developers, a plan that promises to make affordable homes more affordable moved one step closer to reality at Maui County Council recently.

The funding will finance the design and construction of teacher housing in the Lahainaluna Complex Area.

Nonprofit, Stand Up Maui continues its efforts to fight for affordable housing, and recently honored one of its member for efforts to advance the organization’s mission to “stand up for the basic human rights for Maui County’s residents.”

Maui County home sales fell by more than 50% for condos and 20% for single-family houses last month, as rising mortgage rates and record-high sales prices pushed out buyers. Still, Julyʻs median sales price for single-family homes rose 5% year over year to $1.1 million, according to the Realtors Association of Maui report released Wednesday. Condos were up 11% to $789,500 compared with the same month last year.

Applications are available, and a lottery will be held for the Kaiāulu O Halele’a, Kihei Affordable Housing rental project in South Maui.

After area residents voiced strong opposition to Hale Waipu’ilani over flooding, traffic and density concerns, Maui County Council during its recessed meeting Monday killed the 100% affordable housing project pitching 28 units in Kihei.

“Over a decade, Maui County could easily add about 25,000 new single family housing units by opening up a modest amount of agricultural land for light touch density development or by allowing existing homes to be converted to duplexes,” said Peter.

Another affordable housing project is advancing in Waiehu, and this time the developer is pitching 752 units in a plan called Waiehu Residential Community. The 100% affordable housing project by California-based Genova Construction Development would build single- and multi-family units, retail space and parks on about 160 acres of overgrown macadamia nut fields mauka of Kahekili Highway near Waiehu Beach Road.

Bio-Logical Capital LLC bought Hāna Ranch for about $9 million less than a decade ago, and the Colorado company recently put it on the market for $75 million. Hāna Ranch, which includes a working cattle ranch and diversified orchards, comprises 37 separate parcels totaling roughly 3,600 acres in East Maui.

Meanwhile, condo median sales prices in June set another record at $832,500, according to the Realtors Association of Maui report released Wednesday afternoon. 

Saying the move is a step toward closure, the council’s Government, Relations, Ethics and Transparency Committee voted 8-0 today to recommend a resolution authorizing the county’s acquisition of the home for public purposes, such as a Hawaiian cultural education building or other public facility. The resolution now heads to the full council. 

New owners of one of the last Lahaina apartments with workforce rents reversed course Friday, announcing that no immediate evictions or rent increases will occur at Lahaina Crossroads. Meanwhile, tenants protested Saturday in downtown Lahaina to spotlight the lack of workforce housing that happens when big money scoops up properties and Maui residents are pushed out.

Saying the decision is between affordable housing or speculator homes, Maui County Council in committee today voted to recommend approval for a hotly-debated 28-unit affordable housing project slated for Kīhei.

Katherine Kamaunu, 71, has lived at Lahaina Crossroads Apartments for more than 35 years. Now, she and her husband, Aaron Kamaunu, 60, are being forced out of the complex, along with nearly 20 other families — a handful of whom are kūpuna on fixed incomes. The Kamaunus and other tenants said Lahaina Crossroads Apartments ownership is kicking them out to renovate — then charge nearly double the rent. After all, units are located a couple blocks mauka of Front Street and outsiders are paying outrageous prices to live in Hawaiʻi, they said.

A 100% affordable rental project with 120 units planned for Waiehu recently gained an important state approval. Hale Mahaolu Ke Kahua Affordable Housing Community would provide one-, two- and three-bedroom rental units for low-income families on nearly 11.5 acres owned by Maui Economic Opportunity Inc. near the intersection of Kahekili Highway and Waiehu Beach Road.

Saying they’re for affordable housing — just not in this area — at least a dozen opponents to proposed Hale Waipu’ilani 100% workforce project in Kīhei pointed to flooding and traffic concerns Monday during the Maui County Council’s Affordable Housing Committee meeting. However, a handful of other residents, including the leader of Maui’s affordable housing plan, said the 28-unit affordable project is sorely needed, even if the neighbors don’t want it in their backyards.

Maui County’s single-family home median sales price at $1.21 million in May hovered just below the record high while sales showed signs of slowing, according to a new report by the Realtors Association of Maui. The all-time record was set in April $1.25 million, which capped a streak of six months where Maui County’s median was more than $1 million. 

Maui County council and administration are at odds over whether vacant spaces in industrial areas, such as Queen Ka’ahumanu Center, should be able to convert into apartments as a way to combat the housing crisis.