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Group concerned Honolulu rail project could harm bus service
Honolulu Advertiser
January 22, 2010
Advertiser Staff
The Faith Action for Community Equity group said it is traveling to Washington, D.C. next week because of concerns Honolulu’s rail project could siphon off money from the city’s bus system.
FACE, which said it supports rail, said it is working with groups around the country to pass an amendment to a jobs bill in Congress allowing cities to use up to 10 percent of their federal funds to subsidize existing systems.
FACE leaders will join interfaith leaders from 20 other urban areas at the Transportation Equity Network’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. They will be asking Congressional and administration officials for help in closing the gap in Hawaii’s rail plan.
The city is proposing diverting $300 million from TheBus to pay for a planned $5.3 billion train.
Click here for the original article.
Transit-oriented development could help pay for rail system
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
January 20, 2010
By Frank Genadio
The City & County of Honolulu presents transit-oriented development (TOD) as housing, retail and other facilities within a half-mile radius of a transit station.
Benefits are obvious: Commuting workers walk to stations and leave cars at home; retailers gain consumers from the transit system; and students at some campuses will not have to worry about parking.
Other than increased ridership, however, nothing directly benefits the transit system.
There is another way to look at TOD, something done in other municipalities. San Francisco is a good example, with its Transbay Tower TOD in the Embarcadero area aimed at supporting the city’s transit system. Plans call for a central tower and high-rises, with derived income directed toward building a rail system extension. Such income on Oahu would go into the general fund. It is unlikely that revenue changes would occur for existing developments, but every new TOD should be undertaken with a goal of diverting some percentage of income into the city’s special fund for transit. This would be especially important for later transit operations and expansion. The state already takes 10 percent of that fund. Relying on the state or City Council to provide future transit funding would be risky.
According to the city, funds from the 16-year surcharge on the general excise tax and federal sources will be enough to buy the trains and build the 20-mile guideway for the minimum operable segment (MOS) and the maintenance and storage facility. In the draft environmental impact statement, however, there is no funding plan for extending the system to the University of Hawaii-Manoa, to West Kapolei, and into Waikiki. Fare revenues would not cover system operations and maintenance; to maintain ridership, fares would have to be subsidized, as they are for TheBus. Many have criticized starting the system on the Ewa Plain. What if the first two planned transit stations were examples for revenue generation, the price for placing West Oahu first?
The first station would be a focal point for the Kroc Community Center, as well as a huge shopping center and housing built by the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. The latter two projects would benefit financially from rail, so a predetermined percentage of their revenue should subsidize transit. The second station would be between the UH-West Oahu campus and the proposed Ho’opili development. Some state land west of the station and D.R. Horton-Schuler land on the east could be designated as a TOD area. A similar arrangement there could subsidize transit as well as UH-West Oahu operations.
Applying TOD-generated funds to the locally preferred alternative could produce a future financial plan much sooner, possibly enabling continuation of rail construction jobs. This would provide earlier connection to UH-Manoa, boosting rail ridership; rapid development of Kalaeloa (from the West Kapolei extension), with new TODs along the route; and a Waikiki link benefiting both residents and retailers. TOD funds could help subsidize operating and maintenance costs, perhaps avoiding extension of the general excise tax surcharge. Funds realized from ridership increases also could be banked for a future extension to Central Oahu.
Discussions of high-rise development on the Ewa Plain brought outrage from community leaders at a meeting of the Ho’opili Task Force, which was formed by D.R. Horton-Schuler to get community input for the development. One wonders: Why worry about an area with no scenic views, particularly when there has been no criticism of high-rises sprouting at Ko Olina that actually block ocean views? The up-rather-than-out compromise suggested previously for Ho’opili would give the developer a similar number of housing units while also preserving a considerable amount of acreage for agriculture. This compromise may not satisfy activists on both sides of the land dispute — or involved developers — but could make Kapolei a city with a real center that attracts both residents and visitors.
Frank Genadio is a member of the Ho’opili Task Force, formed by D.R. Horton-Schuler.
Go to original article.
In tough times, council aims for more affordable housing
The Maui News
January 14, 2010
By CHRIS HAMILTON, Staff Writer
WAILUKU – Maui County Council members took a step Wednesday toward altering the county’s residential work force housing policy in an effort to coax more development of affordable housing – and any housing – in these troubled economic times.
And Public Services Committee Chairman Wayne Nishiki reiterated an earlier pledge that members will continue to rework the policy, which was authored in 2006 to ensure that when developers build luxury homes in Maui County, they will also provide homes affordable to residents with limited incomes.
In a life span marred by the deepest recession in memory, the ordinance has been applied to only three housing developments. Critics say that’s proof the ordinance doesn’t work, while supporters say practically no one is building or buying in this poor economy.
Either way, a change is needed on the government level to boost the floundering construction industry and provide home-buying opportunities for residents, council members said.
“We want to let the community know that this is just one small step of many steps needed to revise this ordinance,” said Council Member Mike Victorino.
The measure, which advances to the full council for first reading, reduces to at least 25 percent the number of affordable homes a developer would be required to build in a new subdivision (any with five or more homes).
That’s down from the 40 percent requirement in the current ordinance. If and when the new amendment passes the County Council in the coming weeks, it will only apply to projects in which the planned market-rate homes are estimated to fetch $600,000 or less on the open market.
The average single-family home on Maui sold for $719,993 last year. And, according to the existing law, when a developer builds a subdivision with market-rate homes starting at more than $600,000, half of the new properties must be affordable.
Developer and Maui Contractors Association President David Goode lobbied council members on Wednesday to lower the affordable housing threshold to 15 percent, saying the county needs to be doing whatever it can these days to get people back to work.
By contrast, Stan Franco of the nonprofit organization, Faith Action for Community Equity Maui, said members of his group would be more comfortable with lowering the rate to 30 percent.
Council Member and Public Services Committee Vice Chairman Joe Pontanilla called 25 percent a good compromise.
Franco also asked council members to take a stronger stand to ensure that developers don’t take advantage of legal language that allows them to create neighborhoods that do not have mixed-income levels of residents living within them.
Deputy Corporation Counsel Kimberly Sloper also clarified some of the work force housing ordinance’s previously fuzzy language when it comes to the percentages. She said, for instance under the new amendment, that when 100 homes are built “on site,” 75 homes would be sold at market rate and 25 as affordable homes.
Under the Maui County ordinance, a development company has the option to go the “off-site” route, where, for instance, 100 market-rate homes are built in one area, and 40 affordable homes are built somewhere in the same planning district. To help soothe some of the classism concerns by affordable housing advocates such as Franco and others, committee members on Wednesday increased the off-site affordable housing rate to 50 percent in an amendment.
“Today, in my heart, I look at affordable housing in a different light,” Pontanilla said. “If at all possible, we must not segregate by classes.”
He said he does not like the idea of “homogenous neighborhoods.”
All nine County Council members are part of the committee, although two are nonvoting members. The vote was 5-0 Wednesday, with voting members Jo Anne Johnson and Danny Mateo absent and excused.
In a letter to the committee, Mayor Charmaine Tavares expressed support for the proposed ordinance change.
Developers, real estate and construction representatives over the past year have provided committee members numerous proposed amendments to the county’s work force housing policy, such as lifting deed restrictions and eliminating a companion law that requires developers to provide their own water sources.
About 3,100 dwellings have been proposed since the ordinance went into effect, according to the county Department of Housing and Human Concerns. Some of those projects are still in the planning phase, while developers of other projects have either lost financing or are waiting for the housing market to improve.
In a sign of what other changes might be coming to the housing ordinance, Victorino suggested the county get back into the business of building affordable homes itself, but with conditions to prevent owners of affordable homes from reselling them at market rates.
Without affordable housing options available, “the American dream has become a nightmare,” Victorino said.
* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.
By CHRIS HAMILTON, Staff Writer
WAILUKU – Maui County Council members took a step Wednesday toward altering the county’s residential work force housing policy in an effort to coax more development of affordable housing – and any housing – in these troubled economic times.
And Public Services Committee Chairman Wayne Nishiki reiterated an earlier pledge that members will continue to rework the policy, which was authored in 2006 to ensure that when developers build luxury homes in Maui County, they will also provide homes affordable to residents with limited incomes.
In a life span marred by the deepest recession in memory, the ordinance has been applied to only three housing developments. Critics say that’s proof the ordinance doesn’t work, while supporters say practically no one is building or buying in this poor economy.
Either way, a change is needed on the government level to boost the floundering construction industry and provide home-buying opportunities for residents, council members said.
“We want to let the community know that this is just one small step of many steps needed to revise this ordinance,” said Council Member Mike Victorino.
The measure, which advances to the full council for first reading, reduces to at least 25 percent the number of affordable homes a developer would be required to build in a new subdivision (any with five or more homes).
That’s down from the 40 percent requirement in the current ordinance. If and when the new amendment passes the County Council in the coming weeks, it will only apply to projects in which the planned market-rate homes are estimated to fetch $600,000 or less on the open market.
The average single-family home on Maui sold for $719,993 last year. And, according to the existing law, when a developer builds a subdivision with market-rate homes starting at more than $600,000, half of the new properties must be affordable.
Developer and Maui Contractors Association President David Goode lobbied council members on Wednesday to lower the affordable housing threshold to 15 percent, saying the county needs to be doing whatever it can these days to get people back to work.
By contrast, Stan Franco of the nonprofit organization, Faith Action for Community Equity Maui, said members of his group would be more comfortable with lowering the rate to 30 percent.
Council Member and Public Services Committee Vice Chairman Joe Pontanilla called 25 percent a good compromise.
Franco also asked council members to take a stronger stand to ensure that developers don’t take advantage of legal language that allows them to create neighborhoods that do not have mixed-income levels of residents living within them.
Deputy Corporation Counsel Kimberly Sloper also clarified some of the work force housing ordinance’s previously fuzzy language when it comes to the percentages. She said, for instance under the new amendment, that when 100 homes are built “on site,” 75 homes would be sold at market rate and 25 as affordable homes.
Under the Maui County ordinance, a development company has the option to go the “off-site” route, where, for instance, 100 market-rate homes are built in one area, and 40 affordable homes are built somewhere in the same planning district. To help soothe some of the classism concerns by affordable housing advocates such as Franco and others, committee members on Wednesday increased the off-site affordable housing rate to 50 percent in an amendment.
“Today, in my heart, I look at affordable housing in a different light,” Pontanilla said. “If at all possible, we must not segregate by classes.”
He said he does not like the idea of “homogenous neighborhoods.”
All nine County Council members are part of the committee, although two are nonvoting members. The vote was 5-0 Wednesday, with voting members Jo Anne Johnson and Danny Mateo absent and excused.
In a letter to the committee, Mayor Charmaine Tavares expressed support for the proposed ordinance change.
Developers, real estate and construction representatives over the past year have provided committee members numerous proposed amendments to the county’s work force housing policy, such as lifting deed restrictions and eliminating a companion law that requires developers to provide their own water sources.
About 3,100 dwellings have been proposed since the ordinance went into effect, according to the county Department of Housing and Human Concerns. Some of those projects are still in the planning phase, while developers of other projects have either lost financing or are waiting for the housing market to improve.
In a sign of what other changes might be coming to the housing ordinance, Victorino suggested the county get back into the business of building affordable homes itself, but with conditions to prevent owners of affordable homes from reselling them at market rates.
Without affordable housing options available, “the American dream has become a nightmare,” Victorino said.
* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.
Go to original article.
Click here to view FACE testimony.
FACE Maui testimony on Affordable Housing
The following is the testimony of Deacon Stan Franco, President of FACE Maui, at the meeting of the Maui County Public Services Committee on January 13, 2010.
Good morning Chair Nishiki and Members of the Public Service Committee:
My name is Stan Franco and I am the President of FACE MAUI. I am here to speak on behalf of its almost 30 congregations and community organizations. We represent families from all walks of life. FACE MAUI knows these families personally; they sit in the pews of our churches such as St. Anthony , the Christian Ministry Church, Lahaina United Methodist, Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Maria Lanakila, and Christ the King Catholic to name a few . The members of these congregations decided that affordable housing is one of their major concerns and that is why we are here today.
We are proud that our county passed a Residential Workforce Housing Ordinance. We need more homes built that are affordable to families with mom and dad working in government, in tourism, in construction and other related industries. So, the spirit of the law is crucial – the goal is more affordable homes in Maui County.
Not enough fee simple and rental housing units for working families have ever been built, and it’s a crying public need. Every day, good families on Maui, Molokai, and Lanai are being forced into impossible living situations, or even cornered into moving to the Mainland, to put an affordable roof over their heads. What we have built so far does not reflect who we are!
FACE MAUI is clear about one thing: What, where and how we build homes for Maui’s people will determine who we become.
Today, you are discussing the letter of the law – specifically, one way a potential developer may satisfy the ordinance and help move our county in the right direction – of insuring that more affordable homes are constructed – and of putting our laborers and carpenters and our real estate community back to work at the same time.
The amendment you are considering today proposes to decrease the percentage of affordable units from 40% to 25% required in a proposed development in projects with market-rate houses below $600,000 dollars. Some have testified that 40% is too steep a number to realize when all the costs are computed.
FACE Maui believes that a double bottom line needs to be considered by this committee—a reasonable profit for the builder AND affordable homes actually constructed. A win-win solution is what we know the committee is seeking today and we do too.
We recognize that for every affordable unit that is built, some amount of potential profit is lost by the builder. We also know that for every affordable unit that is NOT built, a real Maui County family will not have a home to have family gatherings like baby’s first birthday, Christmas or New Year’s family celebrations, or simply a place for the kids to do their homework.
Out of respect and love for the families we know and the many that we don’t, FACE Maui believes that a decrease from 40% to 30% can be justified. However, we also believe that the 30% should be applied only to household incomes in 80% to 120% brackets. We think that those with incomes over 120% can afford to buy market priced homes today.
Here’s an example of the scenario we believe the 30% affordable, on-site could work:
In a proposed development of 100 homes, 70 would be market rate and 30 would be affordable, with 15 homes built for families at 80 to 100% and 15 homes for folks at 100 to 120% of area median income.
With the proposed 25% scenario, this would be the math:
With 100 homes proposed, 75 would be at market-rate; 25 would be affordable. Half the homes (12.5) would be at 80 – 100% and 12.5 homes for families at 100- 120% of area median.
A difference of only 5 units in the spreadsheet, but a difference of 5 HOMES for our families.
In addition, FACE MAUI is aware that further modifications to the Residential Workforce Housing Ordinance will be proposed this year and wants to share, in advance, some of the general reflections of our organization on any new proposals to change the current Residential Workforce Housing Policy.
First, we would like to see this ordinance function to produce housing for working families. While we are grateful for every single affordable unit produced for any member of our community, whether by for-profit or non-profit developers, FACE Maui lifts up the reality faced by families starting out or squeaking by on multiple jobs (many part-time) in the high cost economy of Maui County. They don’t have many good options available to them, and there are thousands of these families who are waiting for homes which they can buy without jeopardizing their financial futures.
Second, we believe that mixed-income communities are possible and beneficial for Maui County. We have always lived together from plantation days when we shared our foods, our homes and our cultures. Isolating people from each other because of how many dollars we have in the bank is foreign to us. We cannot continue going down this path because we will lose our spirit of aloha and ohana which welcomes all the people who come to visit us from many lands. It is just right that we live together in an open society.
Third, we are pleased to see the Public Services Committee wrestling with these hard issues on how to increase affordable housing for our residents—even under the stress of the most painful economic squeeze many of us can remember. We would like to partner with you, the Maui County Council and the County Administration to investigate productive and efficient mechanisms for land acquisition and development of homes truly affordable to those families sitting in the pews of our churches and all others who want to live, raise their children and die here.
Thank you for listening. May Akua continue to bless your work for his people.
The following is the testimony of Deacon Stan Franco, President of FACE Maui, at the meeting of the Maui County Public Services Committee on January 13, 2010.:
.
Good morning Chair Nishiki and Members of the Public Service Committee:
.
My name is Stan Franco and I am the President of FACE MAUI. I am here to speak on behalf of its almost 30 congregations and community organizations. We represent families from all walks of life. FACE MAUI knows these families personally; they sit in the pews of our churches such as St. Anthony , the Christian Ministry Church, Lahaina United Methodist, Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Maria Lanakila, and Christ the King Catholic to name a few . The members of these congregations decided that affordable housing is one of their major concerns and that is why we are here today.
.
We are proud that our county passed a Residential Workforce Housing Ordinance. We need more homes built that are affordable to families with mom and dad working in government, in tourism, in construction and other related industries. So, the spirit of the law is crucial – the goal is more affordable homes in Maui County.
.
Not enough fee simple and rental housing units for working families have ever been built, and it’s a crying public need. Every day, good families on Maui, Molokai, and Lanai are being forced into impossible living situations, or even cornered into moving to the Mainland, to put an affordable roof over their heads. What we have built so far does not reflect who we are!
.
FACE MAUI is clear about one thing: What, where and how we build homes for Maui’s people will determine who we become.
Today, you are discussing the letter of the law – specifically, one way a potential developer may satisfy the ordinance and help move our county in the right direction – of insuring that more affordable homes are constructed – and of putting our laborers and carpenters and our real estate community back to work at the same time.
.
The amendment you are considering today proposes to decrease the percentage of affordable units from 40% to 25% required in a proposed development in projects with market-rate houses below $600,000 dollars. Some have testified that 40% is too steep a number to realize when all the costs are computed.
.
FACE Maui believes that a double bottom line needs to be considered by this committee—a reasonable profit for the builder AND affordable homes actually constructed. A win-win solution is what we know the committee is seeking today and we do too.
We recognize that for every affordable unit that is built, some amount of potential profit is lost by the builder. We also know that for every affordable unit that is NOT built, a real Maui County family will not have a home to have family gatherings like baby’s first birthday, Christmas or New Year’s family celebrations, or simply a place for the kids to do their homework.
.
Out of respect and love for the families we know and the many that we don’t, FACE Maui believes that a decrease from 40% to 30% can be justified. However, we also believe that the 30% should be applied only to household incomes in 80% to 120% brackets. We think that those with incomes over 120% can afford to buy market priced homes today.
.
Here’s an example of the scenario we believe the 30% affordable, on-site could work:
In a proposed development of 100 homes, 70 would be market rate and 30 would be affordable, with 15 homes built for families at 80 to 100% and 15 homes for folks at 100 to 120% of area median income.
.
With the proposed 25% scenario, this would be the math:
With 100 homes proposed, 75 would be at market-rate; 25 would be affordable. Half the homes (12.5) would be at 80 – 100% and 12.5 homes for families at 100- 120% of area median.
.
A difference of only 5 units in the spreadsheet, but a difference of 5 HOMES for our families.
.
In addition, FACE MAUI is aware that further modifications to the Residential Workforce Housing Ordinance will be proposed this year and wants to share, in advance, some of the general reflections of our organization on any new proposals to change the current Residential Workforce Housing Policy.
.
First, we would like to see this ordinance function to produce housing for working families. While we are grateful for every single affordable unit produced for any member of our community, whether by for-profit or non-profit developers, FACE Maui lifts up the reality faced by families starting out or squeaking by on multiple jobs (many part-time) in the high cost economy of Maui County. They don’t have many good options available to them, and there are thousands of these families who are waiting for homes which they can buy without jeopardizing their financial futures.
.
Second, we believe that mixed-income communities are possible and beneficial for Maui County. We have always lived together from plantation days when we shared our foods, our homes and our cultures. Isolating people from each other because of how many dollars we have in the bank is foreign to us. We cannot continue going down this path because we will lose our spirit of aloha and ohana which welcomes all the people who come to visit us from many lands. It is just right that we live together in an open society.
.
Third, we are pleased to see the Public Services Committee wrestling with these hard issues on how to increase affordable housing for our residents—even under the stress of the most painful economic squeeze many of us can remember. We would like to partner with you, the Maui County Council and the County Administration to investigate productive and efficient mechanisms for land acquisition and development of homes truly affordable to those families sitting in the pews of our churches and all others who want to live, raise their children and die here.
.
Thank you for listening. May Akua continue to bless your work for his people.