Some describe Varona Village as the place that time forgot: abandoned houses, one with a missing roof and others with “No Trespassing” signs nailed to the front; and vacant lots with overgrown grass and weeds.

But then there are the homes, several with well-manicured yards and fences, occupied by former Ewa Plantation Co. sugar workers and their families.

Plans to rehabilitate houses in Varona have languished for decades, and now city officials have identified it as a community where more affordable housing units can be developed — particularly as efforts increase to get more of Oahu’s homeless population off the streets.

Varona is one of eight communities in Ewa Villages built for plantation workers between 1900 and the 1950s. While there has been development in some areas, Varona has largely remained intact with remaining homes still rented to former workers and their spouses.

Nearby, the construction of Ka Makana Alii, a 1.4 million-square-foot regional mall, is expected to bring more attention to the area, and the Hawaiian Railway Society’s train is already a tourist attraction.

Varona is an area of about 26 acres and about 90 lots. The city acquired Varona, Tenney and Renton villages when Oahu Sugar, Ewa Plantation’s successor, shut down in 1995.

Promises made

The city promised that the former plantation workers could stay and drafted a plan that sought to rehabilitate the structures and give tenants the option to buy their homes. Tenney and Renton villages were largely renovated and sold to residents and other buyers.

Crescencia Malate, whose husband was a plantation plumber, moved to Varona in 1971 from Waipahu. City officials have visited Varona and said, “Just stay over here until you die. Nobody push you to go out,” the 75-year-old mother of two recalled. “So we remember that words.”

But she said she hopes the day will come when Varona is renovated and tenants are given the option to buy their homes at a reasonable price. Until then, she said, she likes living there with her husband and her longtime neighbors and friends.

“1971 we came. Not fixed yet,” she said. “It’s the same, but it’s still good.”

City Managing Director Roy Amemiya said there are efforts to make improvements in Varona, including a request for information that sought proposals to rehabilitate the agriculturally zoned property. According to the RFI, the city would consider establishing permanent housing for the former plantation workers and their spouses, and affordable housing for seniors and families.

Officials received one response and will use the information to craft a request for proposals and select a developer, Amemiya said. That process would fall under the city’s new Office of Strategic Development, for which Mayor Kirk Caldwell had sought funding for seven positions, but the City Council did not include the money in the budget in June.

The city administration “is moving forward on a number of fronts to try to get more affordable housing here in the island,” Amemiya said. “This (Varona) is one of the properties that has been identified … as being able to house more of our residents at affordable rates. (But) we’re sort of in a holding pattern in large part because we can only handle so many properties at one time. Unfortunately, with a staff of three persons in our Office of Strategic Development, this is not something that they’re actively working on.”

Amemiya said a timeline to start the RFP process would be issued “in a reasonable time frame.” The city has a contract with Hawaiian Properties Ltd. for $51,000 per year to manage Varona and other areas in Ewa Villages.

In the meantime, 20 tenants rent the homes for about $32 to $150 each month. Rent is determined based on names on the lease and marital status. For example, the rent for a surviving spouse of a tenant of record, a former plantation worker, would remain the same if the spouse’s name is on the lease.

Eighteen other renters pay between $350 and $400 per month, including tenants occupying two homes from Habitat for Humanity. But for several years the city has made no homes available for rent.

“The city’s policy … has been to shutter the structures when the tenants of record no longer occupy them,” said Jesse Broder Van Dyke, Caldwell’s spokeswoman, in an email. “The city continues to honor the tenants of record’s rights to live there and does not plan to evict renters.”

Malate said she pays $55 each month in rent. She said they paid $24 per month when they first moved to Varona.

According to Broder Van Dyke, all of the occupied homes are inspected at least once a year by the property manager and the city, and none has been found unsafe. The structures are maintained by city contractors who respond to complaints, he said. Abandoned homes are not maintained and access to those structures is prohibited, he said.

“As is the case for the many historic buildings on Oahu, the existing structures are safe and pass regular inspections but are obviously not built to the specific requirements for new construction today,” Broder Van Dyke said. “It’s like how an old car might not meet fuel standards for new cars but can still pass safety inspection and be safe to drive.”

Amemiya said the ceilings are made of Canec, fiberboard made from sugar cane bagasse. According to the state Department of Health, daily exposure to very high levels of inorganic arsenic found in Canec over many years could have effects on health.

Demetria Balala, 71, said her roof was leaking. Balala, whose husband worked as a payloader operator on the plantation, has lived at Varona since 1970 and has not moved “because no more money.” She said she pays $55 to $60 each month in rent.

“We going to stay until we’re going to die,” Balala said. “We going to try to buy (our house) because … we no more nothing to go.”

Balala said she worries that people may be sleeping in the abandoned homes. Malate said the homes were much nicer before some of the tenants died.

Councilman Ron Menor, who represents the area, maintains that the city should have issued an RFP months ago due to the “dilapidated conditions” and homes that are “basically falling apart.” He also expressed concerns for tenants’ health and safety and said the area is “pitch black” at night because most of the streetlights do not work. He said he plans to follow up with the city administration to ensure that longtime residents “are no longer forgotten.”

“I think we’re way behind where we actually need to be. I don’t think that the city has been moving forward as proactively as they should be,” Menor said.

Malate said the streetlights where she lives do not work. “That’s our complaint too. I don’t know why they don’t fix it.”

Over the years, several challenges have delayed rehabilitation plans, including the closure of the city’s lead housing agency involved in the master plan and failed attempts to trade the property for state land. Former city housing official Michael Kahapea was found guilty and sent to prison in 2000 for orchestrating a scam that stole $5.6 million from the city’s Ewa Villages redevelopment fund.

Varona is also listed on the state Register of Historic Places as part of the Ewa Plantation Villages Historic District. The state Historic Preservation Division would need to review projects on the property, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. Broder Van Dyke said the “existing shuttered structures” cannot be demolished without the state’s approval.

Repair funds set aside

In 2013, the City Council appropriated $500,000 to plan, design and construct immediate repairs “to address health and safety concerns” at Varona, according to the budget bill.

That same year, the Council passed a resolution, introduced by Menor and Councilwoman Kymberly Pine, to form a working group of city officials and community members to address the short- and long-term needs at Varona.

The group met a few months later and drafted a report detailing several recommendations, such as restoring existing structures, improving infrastructure, preserving some areas for a park or open space and constructing a community center. The group suggested that former plantation workers and their spouses be allowed to purchase their homes below market pricing.

Other efforts to improve Varona in 2013 included paving the roads with asphalt as part of the city’s $10 million repaving project. The city Department of Environmental Services also received a $247,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to replace cesspools with septic tanks at Varona, Broder Van Dyke said. The department expects to complete the project early next year.

As for Malate, she said she has not considered moving, but has called the police in the past to report people trespassing and dumping trash in the area.

She said she hopes she can buy her home one day at an affordable price.

“I have a feeling that they’re going to fix this community,” said Malate, acknowledging that it has been frustrating to wait for the renovations. “But we just wait because we are not the only problem.”