A state agency regulating development in Kakaako last week finished four years of work to improve the future supply of affordable housing in the area filled with luxury condominium towers.
Board members of the Hawaii Community Development Authority adopted a final set of revised rules for producing moderately priced homes during a
June 13 meeting.
The meeting was held because Gov. David Ige in January objected to one piece of a comprehensive rule overhaul the board approved in September by a 6-3 vote after about four years of analysis and numerous public hearings.
Ige balked at the board’s prior plan to give HCDA the right to buy back homes, which are reserved at below-market prices for moderate-income residents, if the owner sells within 30 years.
Such buybacks allow the agency to resell a repurchased home to another moderate-income household, and to prevent original buyers, who typically are selected by lottery, from turning affordable homes into market-priced homes after a relatively short period. HCDA can buy back the home at fair market value minus an amount that equates, on a percentage basis, to the original price discount.
Ige felt that a 30-year buyback period was “too
extreme” and could discourage enough buyers so that developers might not build. Instead, Ige suggested 10 years. Previously HCDA’s buyback period was five years for affordable homes it calls “reserved housing.”
HCDA’s board approved the 10-year buyback. That was the only major change from the prior set of comprehensive rules approved by the board.
The board voted 7-1 with member Wei Fang dissenting.
Affordable-housing advocates including the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Economic Justice had urged the board to stick with 30 years.
“An affordability period of 30 years is critical to preserving affordable housing stock created by the Kakaako reserved housing requirements,” the organi-
zation said in written testimony. “The requirement is modest and workable — many jurisdictions require 60, or even 99 years.”
The Land Use Research Foundation, an organization representing major Hawaii landowners and developers, supported Ige’s position.
“The overwhelming testimony was that a 30-year restriction will harm the production of for sale housing,” LURF said in written testimony.
Regardless of the length of the buyback period, someone selling an affordable home purchased under HCDA’s program still must pay the agency its share of equity based on the percentage of the original price discount.
Other major parts of the rule overhaul include reducing average rent and purchase prices for affordable homes, and maintaining affordable rents longer.
HCDA generally requires that developers reserve
20 percent of new homes in large projects — mainly condo towers — for residents earning up to 140 percent of Honolulu’s median income, which the agency calculates to be $94,100 for one person, $107,500 for two people and $134,400 for a family of four.
Maximum home prices for such buyers could be around $553,100 for a single person, $631,600 for a couple and $789,300 for a family of four.
Under the new rules, buyers still can earn up to
140 percent of the median income, but prices on average would have to be affordable at a 120 percent median income level. This would make the average condo price around $474,100 for one person, $541,400 for a couple or $676,600 for a family of four.
Average rents also would be at the 120 percent income level, and the rentals would have to maintain such rents for 30 years instead of 15 years previously.
Amended rules apply only to projects not already permitted or covered by a master plan, which means towers under the Our Kakaako master plan by Kamehameha Schools and the Ward Village master plan by Howard Hughes Corp. won’t be subject to new rules until those plans expire in 2024.
