Housing & Real Estate

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.

In Hawaiʻi, more than forty thousand households earn $30,000 a year or less. For them, housing they can afford barely exists.

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.

To kick off National Homeownership Month, the US Department of Agriculture is highlighting federal programs that help people in rural, tribal and underserved areas buy, build and repair affordable homes — and to pay their rent.

Haʻikū’s iconic recreational spot Giggle Hill is being sold for millions of dollars, and for some residents it’s not a laughing matter.

With soaring housing prices in Maui County, council members are looking at ways to update the county’s sales price guidelines so affordable housing can actually be affordable.

In the latest chapter for a controversial house that towers over other homes in Nāpili, Maui County Council Member Tamara Paltin said her investigation shows the developer shouldn’t have gotten a key exemption that allowed construction to bypass public input. The unfinished, eight-bedroom home at 5385 Lower Honoapiʻilani Road, initially designed with rooftop and floor-level pools, came under fire last year when it climbed toward 45 feet tall. 

Kuʻikahi Village Project, which aims to build 202 workforce housing units on about 15 acres in Wailuku, cleared a significant hurdle recently. Developed by Alaula Builders, Kuʻikahi Village calls for a variety of residences, including multifamily, duplex, townhome, live-work, tiny home and single-family units. Residences will go toward families earning between 60% and 140% of the Area Median Income.

Within days of a Maui County Council vote to set aside $6.2 million in order to keep 257 acres in Māʻalaea from development, one of Maui’s largest, most polarizing developers scooped up the land.

James Campbell Company LLC , a $4.8 billion, nationally diversified real estate company based in Hawaii, announced today that Cameron Nekota and Jim Sullivan have been appointed to serve on its Board of Directors, effective May 6, 2022. 

Rent prices spiked over the first few months this year, with Maui seeing a 41% surge in asking prices compared with the same time last year, according to a new report from University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization.

A $192 million Kahului plan to develop 300 affordable and market-rate units, along with a civic center for state office space, cleared a hurdle in the approval process.

The proposed 125-unit multi-family complex was floated in place of the proposed Wailuku Hotel concept that was met with community opposition in 2020.

As the third month this year to set a record for Maui County single-family home median sales price, April marked a new all-time high at more than $1.2 million. Meanwhile, inventory last month reached an all-time low and the existing units are selling “fairly quickly,” according to the Realtors Association of Maui report released Wednesday.

With enough water and funding, the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands plans to add 66 agricultural lots — along with a cultural center, gardens, community buildings, an amphitheater, a local small business venue and native forest restoration  — on roughly 70 acres along Kula Highway in Kēōkea.

Saying that a much-needed affordable housing project in North Kihei shouldn’t be held up over county roadway requirements, Maui Planning Commission on Tuesday morning voted to pull the condition, allowing Hale Kaiola to move full-steam ahead. Hale Kaiola is a 100% workforce housing project with 20 duplexes containing 40 homes at the corner of Kaiola Place and ʻOhukai Road. Recently 40 local families were chosen via lottery of 117 applicants. Units will be owner-occupied with no rentals and start at $395,000.