06 May Kaua`i Habitat Acquires Properties for Production of Affordable Homes
KHfH Executive Director, Milani Pimental
On April 12, 2024, Kaua‘i Habitat for Humanity closed on the purchase of six CPR land units in Kilauea from nonprofit workforce housing developer Permanently Affordable Living (PAL) Hawai‘i. Part of the 11-home Kauhale O Namahana subdivision co-developed with PAL Hawai‘i, Kaua‘i Habitat’s six units will feature two- and three-bedroom single family homes for qualified buyers with gross household income at 80% and below Kauai’s Area Median Income.
“We were thrilled to collaborate with PAL Hawai‘i and now be able to offer truly affordable housing in an area of our island that typically isn’t known for it,” said Executive Director Milani Pimental. “Our homeowner services staff is planning the next offering of homes which will include these six units.”
The purchase was made possible in part through low-interest loans from Hawai‘i Habitat for Humanity Association, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) which provides funding for affordable homeownership projects in low-income and underserved communities.
Kaua‘i Habitat for Humanity also acquired a 22-acre parcel on Halewili Road in ‘Ele‘ele in January 2024 which is planned for 20 single family homes in Phase 1 and has a potential for an additional 60 homes in future. In 2023, the organization completed the purchase of 1.1 acres on Koloa Rd. in Lāwai, planned for 8 single family homes. In 2020, Kaua ‘i Habitat acquired 0.83 acres in Kalaheo, featuring six CPR homeownership units, through the generosity of Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg.
“It’s a critical time for Kaua‘i Habitat,” commented Doug Haigh, president of Kaua‘i Habitat’s Board of Directors. “We completed our largest and longest subdivision project – 125 homes in ‘Ele‘ele Iluna on the West side – in June 2023. We’re on a mission – there are still thousands of housing units needed today. A key strategy for us these past few years has been to purchase additional land to develop subdivisions so Habitat can produce even more homes beyond the over 230 that we’ve built since 1992.”
In addition to its recent acquisitions and pre-development work, Kaua‘i Habitat is actively working on 10 new single family home starts and planning the remaining 14 home starts at its 32-home Waimea Huakai subdivision which received funding support from the State of Hawai‘i Legislature Grant-In-Aid and Chan and Zuckerberg. The nonprofit is also queuing up homebuilding projects at its Kalāheo Pu‘u Maluhia project featuring six homes and 2-3 builds in partnership with Dept. of Hawaiian Homelands in Anahola, mobilizing to begin onsite infrastructure work at its 17-unit Kauhale O Waipouli project (funded through Chan and Zuckerberg), and readying to start a long-awaited flood recovery re-build project in Wainiha.