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Workforce housing project accepting applications

The 68-lot Kahoma Residential Subdivision is located next to the Lahaina Business Park

Developer West Maui Land Co. is offering two-, three- and four-bedroom homes, as well as individual lots. The application deadline is March 24. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

West Maui Land Co. is accepting applications for its 100 percent workforce housing project in Lahaina through March 24, officials said Thursday.

The 68-lot Kahoma Residential Subdivision includes two-, three- and four-bedroom homes with prices ranging from $280,000 to $760,000, depending on the applicant’s income. Lots from 5,000 to 12,000 square feet also are for sale, going for $290,000 to $330,000, depending on income.

The subdivision of one- and two-story homes is bordered by the Kahoma Stream Flood Control Channel and the Lahaina Business Park and includes a 1-acre park.

“We’re thrilled to be here finally after 14 years,” project manager Heidi Bigelow said of the subdivision in the works since 2003. “Affordable housing is desperately needed in West Maui right now, and if you look at the Multiple Listing Service — in all of West Maui there are a total of three single-family homes under $800,000 and one of those looked like a tear down.”

Foundations and walls of a handful of homes are nearly complete, Bigelow said. She is hoping the first homes will be completed by July, and all of them will be occupied by the end of 2018.

The 68-lot Kahoma Residential Subdivision project is 100 percent workforce housing and is located next to the Lahaina Business Park and along the Kahoma Stream Flood Control Channel. Photo courtesy of West Maui Land Co.

To be eligible for the project, residents must meet a number of requirements. Families must:

• Have a gross annual income and assets of less than 160 percent of the Maui County area median income, or about $130,400 for a family of four.

• Have attended a developer-approved homebuyer seminar.

• Have attended a Housing and Urban Development-approved financial workshop.

• Have been pre-approved for a loan with the applicant’s choice of lender.

• Have met with the seller’s representatives to review the ownership application and supporting documentation.

For a complete breakdown of the housing requirements and prices, visit kahomahomes.com/.

Affordable housing nonprofits Habitat for Humanity Maui and Na Hale O Maui have partnered with West Maui Land Co. and intend to acquire 10 and 12 lots, respectively, within the subdivision. The lots are for residents with maximum annual household incomes of $65,200 to $97,800.

Richard Carr, deputy director of Habitat for Humanity Maui, said his group already has a list of 231 names of interested people. He said the whole island is in need of affordable housing, but the west side seems to suffer a particular lack of housing due to development favoring the visitor industry.

“For the Lahaina side, where little affordable housing gets built, it’s going to be a huge impact,” said Carr, who is no relation to Honolulu developer Stanford Carr. “It’s been pretty amazing. We go through the income qualifications before putting a name on the list, and so many of them have been police officers, schoolteachers and firefighters, who really need to live in their district to be close to work because it’s a struggle for them.”

Carr said the nonprofit organization has not yet begun taking applications and is still working on purchasing the lots from West Maui Land Co. He said the public and everyone on the list will be notified prior to the date of taking applications, “so everyone gets a fair shot to fill it out and turn it in.”

For the application, visit www.habitat-maui.org/content/4ea88f3d6f14a/Kahoma.html.

Residents must set up an appointment with Habitat to file the application, and a committee will decide if the applicant meets the qualifications. Habitat will become the mortgage broker and offer a no-interest mortgage to maintain affordability.

If an applicant is accepted, the selectee will need to commit 500 hours of volunteer work, which includes helping to build his or her own home and neighbors’ homes as well. This concept of “sweat equity” is the Habitat way.

“It helps empower them to make repairs on their own down the road,” Carr said.

Na Hale’s concept of affordability includes separating land value from house value with the goal of making homes affordable into perpetuity. The organization keeps the land in a trust while selling the home to owners and giving them exclusive use of the land. The leases are renewable and capable of being inherited by family members.

The Na Hale website is www.nahaleomaui.org/.

West Maui Land Co. will sell the remaining 46 units and lots, though, residents must reside or work in West Maui.

The company has nearly 300 people on its interest list “from just word of mouth” and has received 15 to 20 calls and emails a day since it began accepting applications Tuesday, Bigelow said. Residents will be selected in a public lottery process slated for April.

The infrastructure, including roads, sidewalks and electrical, are completed for the project and cost close to $6 million, Bigelow said. The company is putting the “finishing touches” on the park but still is waiting on the county Department of Water Supply to install meters for the lots.

The developer has overcome hurdles over the past decade from legal battles to the Great Recession to reach this point. “When I looked at the original timeline, we thought we’d be launching in 2007 or 2008,” Bigelow said.

Originally, the company partnered with a nonprofit that would offer 25 multifamily homes for special needs residents. That group eventually pulled out in 2008 due to the downturn in the economy, which caused West Maui Land Co. to revise its plans.

The revised project was approved by the County Council in 2011 and the state Land Use Commission in 2013, but it faced legal battles over the next few years. Project opponents claimed the land had cultural and historic significance that would be impacted by the development.

Bigelow said no burial remains or artifacts were found during their inventory assessment. She said the project went “above and beyond” state historic preservation rules.

While the company endured the legal battles, it pushed through with engineering and construction, Bigelow said. The legal battles made it difficult for developers to find investors, she said, and the delays meant that costs increased. For example, the budgeted cost of water meters doubled from $400,000 to $800,000 due to fee increases during that time.

“That’s a big number that we had to absorb that we didn’t anticipate,” she said.

Bigelow said the subdivision provides a wide opportunity to different income groups and allows residents priced out of the West Maui market to find housing at a livable wage. She added that plans kept maintenance costs low, so residents do not need to worry about paying high homeowner association fees.

“We didn’t cut corners,” she said. “There’s sidewalks and on-street parking, and the infrastructure is up to subdivision standards, but we did look at long-term costs of maintaining the project and tried to keep that as affordable as possible.”

* Chris Sugidono can be reached at csugidono@mauinews.com.

* This article includes a correction from the original published on Friday, Feb. 24, 2017. In order to qualify for a home in the Kahoma Residential Subdivision, applicants must have annual incomes of no more than $130,400 for a family of four. An incorrect dollar amount appeared in the story.

In addition, preference will be given to applicants who live and/or work in West Maui. However, if there are insufficient qualified applicants, the project will be open to any Hawaii residents, said Heidi Bigelow, project manager.

To date, project costs have surpassed $10 million for the land, entitlements, design and engineering and infrastructure. Water meters and other fees are another $1 million, she said. The Maui News apologizes for the error.

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