HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0782.001 2016-2018comments on Resolutions 519 and 522: in -lieu fees for affordable housing
for Hawai'i County Council, 9 AM Wednesday, Larch 26, 2018, Kona chambers
from Cory Harden, Hilo 333cory@,gmaii.com
"Travesty" is the only word to describe the fees paid by developers in lieu of building affordable housing,
The asking price for a house at Wainani Estates in Kona is about $600,000 to $900,000.
The developer plans 200 units. `
200 units times $600,000 (the low price) is $120 million.
Cee C
The in -lieu fees? About $94,000.;-��
That might buy you a shack or two, in Puna. .
50 hotel units were developed in Kona Village. These will produce income for years.
In -lieu fees are only $100,000.
Will the workers for these hotel units be able to live nearby? No, they'll probably join everyone commuting
for hours every day to jobs in West Hawai'i from shacks in Puna.
For people lucky enough to have homes on Hawaii Island, one-third of us pay about one-third of our
income for housing, while also dealing with the high cost of living here, according to yesterday's Tribune -
Herald.
If you walk ten minutes from this County building, you'll see homeless people --way too many homeless
people. Taxpayers are paying for homelessness—medical emergencies, police emergencies, safe zones,
grants to social service agencies, and more.
Today's resolutions should be revised to charge higher fees or require housing that is actually affordable.
If that can't be done, the affordable housing laws should be revised. For example, in -lieu fees and prices
for affordable housing could be a percentage of whatever the developer earns from the project.
Developers need to pay their fair share, or our housing crisis will only get worse.