Aloha, 

Council Chair Rapozo and I have co-introduced Bill 2725 that would establish a policy of long term affordability for housing that is either developed with state, county or federal (taxpayer) monies and/or required as a condition of zoning.  Bill 2725 would prevent such housing from being sold into the market after a number of years.  Instead, if a qualified family chooses to leave the affordable housing unit, that unit will be available to another qualified family. 

A public hearing on the bill will be held this coming Wednesday, November 14, 2018, at 1:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Historic County Building.  If you feel Kauaʻi is in a housing crisis and a long-term affordability policy will help us address this crisis, please send email testimony to CouncilTestimony@kauai.gov preferably by end of day on November 13, 2018, and/or come and testify in person at the public hearing on November 14.

BACKGROUND

The 2700 affordable homes that the County has developed or required as a condition of zoning over the last 40 years have been a blessing to the families living in these homes and to the island community.  We all want to see our families well housed.  

Where we have in the past built 2700 units over 40 years, we now have to produce 7200 homes in 20 years--a herculean task!  The recently updated General Plan projects a need for 9,000 housing units over the next 20 years.  Based on a recent County Housing Needs Study, 80% of those 9,000 units--7200 units--need to be affordable for qualified families.  (Qualified families are families with 140 percent of median income or lower.  For these qualified families, affordability is defined by law as no more than 30% of household income for mortgage or rent.)  Logically speaking, we need a rapidly expanding inventory of  affordable housing units.  

When any affordable unit is re-sold into the market, our efforts to achieve an expanding inventory of affordable housing units are set back because a qualified family is no longer able to afford that home. Returning units to the public trust makes it possible to keep the homes affordable.

Up to now, County policy has allowed affordable housing units, on an ad hoc basis, to be sold into the market.  This significantly limits the investment value of taxpayer monies allocated for affordable housing and puts the County into a never ending game of “catch up.”

Examples include Kīlauea Estates (subdivision across from Kong Lung) which was required as a zoning condition and which was also built with federal post-ʻIniki monies.  The homes went to exactly the people we wanted to help:  Kīlauea residents born and raised on Kauaʻi, single moms with kids, mechanics, teachers, policemen and others. These families bought their homes for $159,000 to $180,000 in 1998-1999.  A 10-year buyback clause required them to sell the units back to the County if they resold the units within ten years, but after that, the units could be sold at market prices.  They are now selling for around $600,000--not affordable by any stretch of the imagination! 

The most compelling example of the unworkability of the existing policy is Courtyard at Waipouli.  The 82-unit affordable housing rental project across from Kintaro Restaurant was required as a condition of zoning for the Kauaʻi Lagoons resort development (750 luxury oceanfront condos above the Kauaʻi Marriott), but it had only a 10-year buy-back clause.  In 2009, in an act of short-sightedness, the County Council and Mayor permanently waived the affordability requirement for 41 of the 82 units.  Next year, on August 19, 2019, the buy-back clause expires and with it the affordability of the remaining affordable units.  Forty-one qualified families renting there will have to move.  So will the other 41 who are renting at market rates if the units are converted to vacation rentals.  In this current housing market, where will they all go?  Instead of expanding, the affordable housing inventory will be shrinking.

By requiring that all future affordable housing provided as a condition of zoning and/or using federal, state or county monies be affordable for the longest period allowed under the law, Bill 2725 will prevent 10-, 20-, 30-year buybacks.  Instead, it will encourage existing forms of affordable housing that the County presently provides--multi-family rentals on county owned land and 99-year leaseholds of single-family homes.  It will also encourage new forms of affordable housing, such as limited equity cooperative housing and community land trusts.  In all of the above forms, except for multifamily rentals, the original owner will be able to get back his/her equity if the owner chooses to move.

Bill 2725 establishes a policy that will prevent backsliding and instead enable the County to create an ever expanding inventory of affordable housing.  Only then will we begin to address the crisis that is causing both short-term and long-term suffering of local families and a diminished quality of life on Kauaʻi for all. 

The full text of Bill 2725 is available online here.

CALL TO ACTION

Please help by submitting email testimony in support of Bill 2725 (CouncilTestimony@kauai.gov) and/or coming to testify at 1:30 p.m. on November 14.

Mahalo nui,