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A New Lease on Affordable Living
By David K. Choo
 |
Rendering Courtesy of MVE Pacific |
Big Island |
Kamakoa at Waikoloa is a 275-acre, 1,200-unit development designed to provide affordable housing options for West Hawaii’s workforce. Kamakoa’s residential mix includes single-room occupancy units for rent designed for seasonal workers or workers whose full-time residence is on other side of the Island as well as bungalows and premium single-family homes for purchase. Rentals will be offered at 20 percent below area market rates. Home prices will be set for those earning less than 120 percent of the average median income.
What makes Kamakoa, built by developer Unidev Hawaii on land donated by the County of Hawaii, affordable and unique is that it is the state’s first community that uses Community Facilities District taxes to fund infrastructure development, the biggest driver of cost in home development. Kamakoa’s construction costs are estimated at $488 million.
“The County Council has issued a revenue bond to fund infrastructure development, which would be paid for through taxes passed on to homeowners,” says Ed Taira, housing administrator for the County of Hawaii. “The thinking is that the resulting home price plus the tax will be a lot less than what you would pay for a home which has its infrastructure costs built into the sales price.”
Another one of Kamakoa’s innovations, designed to keep the development affordable in perpetuity, is also a very familiar concept in Hawaii: leasehold land. However, unlike traditional long-term leases, homeowners pay a lease premium up front instead of monthly rent. Buyers aren’t required to live in their property for a minimum amount of time, but they are required to sell it back to the landlord, the County of Hawaii.
Will buyers go for this back-to-the-future solution to the affordable housing crisis that plagues the state? It’s hard to say. It all depends if the price is right.
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Reader Comments:
Aloha, I have put in an application for the housing project. Now, the project has stopped, Cost? Not enough interest? I don't know what it is, but now at the Resort I work for, my job will end at the end of this year, due to Disolving of the Company. I intend to find work, but everyone is cutting back hours, and even jobs... what chance do I have to still be eligable for the workforce housing?
Thanks,
MU
Aloha,
I have experience with the Master Developer as an Adm. Asst. I work for the President and Vice President, of a Large Resort here on the Big Island, I'd love to be hired on at the workforce project, who do I send my resume to?
Thanks,
MU