Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 | Posted by Jim Dooley |  Print This Article

Maui Lawmakers Want Answers On Vacant Housing

Honokowai Kauhale on Maui

BY JIM DOOLEY - Two Maui legislators are meeting with state officials this week for answers on why a state affordable housing project is 40 per cent empty.

“It’s ridiculous that this has been allowed to happen,” said Rep. Angus McKelvey, D-10^th (Lahaina, Kaanapali, Kapalua, Maalaea, Kihei) of the vacancy rate at Honokowai Kauhale on Maui.

McKelvey was reacting to stories in Hawaii Reporter last week which revealed that 71 apartments in the 184-unit project in the Kaanapali area of Maui have been unoccupied for months and years.

He said he and Sen. Roz Baker, D-10^th (South and West Maui) are meeting with Karen Seddon, executive director of the Hawaii Housing Finance Development Corp., to discuss Honokowai Kauhale.

State Rep. Angus McKelvey

“We want to get to the bottom of this and clean up the situation immediately,” McKelvey said.

Baker said by email that she was “disturbed” by news reports about Honokowai Kauhale.

State Sen. Roz Baker

“We expect state housing to be kept up and available for those who need it,” Baker said. “Empty unusable units help no one.”

The state has a $583,000-per-year contract with management company Realty Laua LLC to oversee Honokowai Kauhale.

Property manager Lisa Faleafine, whose family owns Realty Laua, moved to the Maui project in 2003 after managing another state-owned affordable housing project in Kona on the Big Island.

Residents in the Kona project, Ka Hale Kahaluu, complained repeatedly to state officials about squalid living conditions and mismanagement when Faleafine was in charge there.

“There’s a lot of red flags here,” McKelvey said.

He also said he thinks Honokowai Kauhale and eight other affordable housing projects owned by HHFDC should be transferred to the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, which owns and operates the bulk of public housing facilities in the state.

“I think we should get these remnant projects out of HHFDC and over to HPA,” he said.

Short URL: http://www.hawaiireporter.com/?p=39253

Author: Jim Dooley

Jim Dooley joined the Hawaii Reporter staff as an investigative reporter in October 2010. Before that, he has worked as a print and television reporter in Hawaii since 1973, beginning as a wire service reporter with United Press International. He joined Honolulu Advertiser in 1974, working as general assignment and City Hall reporter until 1978. In 1978, he moved to full-time investigative reporting in for The Advertiser; he joined KITV news in 1996 as investigative reporter. Jim returned to Advertiser 2001, working as investigative reporter and court reporter until 2010. Reach him at Jim@hawaiireporter.com

Jim Dooley has written 208 articles for us.