Construction takes place on a project in Lahaina on Nov. 9. As the state looks for housing projects it can expedite under the governor’s emergency housing proclamation issued in July before the Aug. 8 fires, Nani Medeiros, the state’s top housing officer, said Wednesday that “Lahaina is not on the table. Not until the community is ready.” Medeiros said that “the folks that actually experienced the displacement are key to any decisions that are made about what is built and where it is put.” — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
The state’s top housing official said this week that “Lahaina is not on the table” for now as the state considers housing projects it can expedite under the governor’s emergency proclamation.
“Lahaina is not on the table. Not until the community is ready,” Nani Medeiros, the governor’s chief housing officer, said Wednesday. “If and when they are ready, if the working group can assist or support in any way, we will.”
Medeiros said that “the folks that actually experienced the displacement are key to any decisions that are made about what is built and where it is put.”
“And we’ve heard from people who want to stay in West Maui. And we heard from people who have said, ‘I don’t want to go back to West Maui.’ And we need to be able to respect everyone’s wishes that has been affected,” Medeiros said.
Medeiros spoke at the Maui County Council’s Housing and Land Use Committee meeting Wednesday as the state faces combined crises of trying to build affordable housing fast enough for its population and trying to find lodging for the thousands of Maui residents who lost homes in the Aug. 8 wildfires.
The fires came just weeks after Gov. Josh Green issued an emergency proclamation on July 17 to help housing get built quicker and alleviate the housing crisis in Hawaii while protecting the environment and agricultural land. The proclamation will streamline development approvals and allow third parties to do some of this work, Green said.
Medeiros and a Build Beyond Barriers Working Group have started holding meetings to review projects that may qualify to move quicker on the approval process.
Before the fires, 11,000 units were preliminarily identified “in Maui County’s pipeline of housing projects anticipated over the next 10 years,” Medeiros said at Wednesday’s housing committee meeting.
Medeiros initially estimated that seven projects on Maui could be “helped and nudged and expedited,” in order to have one project produce units as early as January and the rest to produce units in the next 12 to 18 months or longer. Some of these projects are already under construction.
But after meeting with county officials, Medeiros said on Thursday that the number dropped to four to five housing projects that could be helped to produce units faster, as other projects have infrastructure issues that would prevent them from being built sooner.
Looking to the long term, Medeiros told the committee that three to four government-owned parcels in West Maui had been identified for possible housing and maybe two to three privately owned parcels could be used for housing in Central Maui. But she added that infrastructure “is the biggest challenge.”
Some residents, however, are upset and concerned about the emergency proclamation speeding up the development process and bypassing some reviews, with some even calling on the Maui County Council to “distance” itself from the proclamation.
Teacher Justin Hughey, who was testifying as an individual, said the “emergency proclamation turned the county into a puppet government and gave all their housing authority to Nani Medeiros,” who’s not an elected official.
Hughey, who taught at King Kamehameha III Elementary, which was burned in the Lahaina fire, added that the “actual actions” in the proclamation “does not ensure affordable housing.”
He said the proclamation suspended school impact fees and called it “just a giveaway to developers.” The fees generally are to allow the state to expand the school capacity tied to residential growth.
Hughey also suggested the council to pass a resolution “to distance yourself from this.”
“Yes, it is a crisis, affordable housing,” Hughey said. “But to take down our rights, to take down democracy, you are hurting the teachers, you are hurting the people of Lahaina. Enough is enough. Distance yourselves from this as soon as you can.”
Others who share similar concerns have gone to the courts to challenge the legality of the emergency proclamation. This includes West Maui residents Leonard Nakoa III and Daniel Palakiko. On Monday, 2nd Circuit Court Judge Peter Cahill ordered Medeiros and the Build Beyond Barriers Working Group to appear in court on Jan. 19 to answer the petition.
“The petitioning hui of local residents are very concerned by the governor’s use of emergency powers to legislate radical policy changes into law affecting everything from protection of iwi kupuna and prevailing wages to ensuring payment of school impact fees,” said a news release from attorneys representing the hui.
And, on Thursday, six groups filed a complaint in 1st Circuit Court on Oahu against Green, Medeiros and the Build Beyond Barriers Working Group, saying the proclamation “is unlawful and unconstitutional.” The plaintiffs are Na ‘Ohana O Lele Housing Committee, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai’i, E Ola Kakou Hawai’i, Hawai’i Advocates for Truly Affordable Housing, Sierra Club and Ku’ikeokalani Kamakea-‘Ohelo, who is a cultural practitioner, farmer and a commissioner on the state Land Use Commission.
In an email statement Friday, state Attorney General Anne Lopez said: “The Emergency Proclamation Relating to Housing is a lawful exercise of the Governor’s emergency powers as defined by law, and the emergency rules concerning the Build Beyond Barriers Working Group are valid. The Department of the Attorney General will vigorously defend against the lawsuit in court.”
In addition to those who already lost their homes, others are worried people could struggle to stay in their homes in the wake of the fires.
Jonathan Silva, a counselor at King Kamehameha III Elementary, said during Wednesday’s meeting that he was not trying to take away from the devastation in Lahaina, but pointed to the ripple effects the fires have caused that could lead to more residents being displaced.
In addition to his counseling job, he was working at The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, the Fairmont Kea Lani and Grand Wailea, “just to afford my house,” which he described as “small, manini.” But since the fires, there are hardly any tourists, and he is out of work at the resorts.
“All my income is shut off,” Silva said. “I do not qualify for unemployment because I still get my state job. But we going lose our house. Who going help me? Who going help the people in my canoe?”
Silva said there are lifeguards, police officers, firefighters and others supplementing their incomes by working at the hotels.
“All their income is cut off,” he said. “What going happen to them?”
Silva fears there may be a mass exodus of residents, not only from Lahaina, but “the rest of the island.” He asked for a moratorium on foreclosures and more flexibility in obtaining unemployment benefits.
Medeiros said that the attorney general’s office is looking into a mortgage forbearance program for those who lost homes but still have mortgages. They are also looking for protection from eviction for renters; there is already a moratorium in place for rent increases under the emergency proclamation on the wildfires. The administration is also looking at using the thousands of short-term rentals on Maui for long-term rentals and is encouraging owners to allow residents to rent there.
No action was taken at Wednesday’s meeting, which was recessed until Sept. 13 by Chairwoman Tasha Kama, who said the committee will take more testimony at the next meeting.
* Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at .
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