Where will the poor and elderly live?

Kaua’i County Council Member Gary Hooser sounded like a Christmas preacher Thursday afternoon.

After listening to a Offices of Community Assistance Status report about public housing on Kaua’i, Hooser reminded folks that there was no room at the Kalepa Village in Hanamaulu.

Council was told at Thursday’s council committee meeting, by OCAS’s Gary Mackler, that all 60 units of Kalepa Village are full and that there are 26 families on the waiting list.

The County’s Paanau Village project, another 60 units in Koloa, is also full.

“The (affordable housing) market (for low-income and elderly) is very tight. We refer them to Lihu’e Court…and Lihu’e Theater (elderly housing),” Mackler said.

“There are not a lot of options. We believe if we expanded Kalepa Village we would fill it up…100 percent,” Mackler said.

“We’re ready to go for the 180 units (Kalepa’s build-out number). We have the infrastructure in place. Maybe we can go in smaller (than 60 at a time) increments. We did try (other things). We tried (to build) with Habitat (for Humanity),” Council Member Randal Valenciano said.

A joint county and Habitat project in Ele’ele failed to materialize.

The county, claiming it’s owed money by Habitat for Humanity, sought foreclosure against the organization two months ago.

The county’s foreclosure petition alleged that the charitable organization falled to repay a five-year-old loan.

The county provided Habitat with $980,000 to purchase a 24-acre subdivision in Ele’ele as a location for low-income homes. After the project failed, the county tried to facilitate another deal for Habitat which also failed.

After some extensions so Habitat could find its own financing for the project, the county sought foreclosure.

The County’s Executive on Housing, Kenneth Rainforth, said the foreclosure proceedings are moving forward.

But on the plus side, there are county plans afoot to expand Kalepa.

“The county will be building more. We have a housing crisis and I would like to see the county take a leading role in solving the problem,” Hooser said Friday.

“Maybe we can get back together with Habitat,” Hooser said. “There is land available in ‘Ele’ele where housing can be built. The County’s budget is limited but we could facilitate and lead the way to solving this crisis. There are no quick solutions but we need to fast track construction of new housing at Kalepa Village and we can do that. The County Housing Agency is doing a lot of good things but we need to do more,” Hooser said.

Housing Executive Ken Rainforth said the county is hoping for a federal grant to build 40 more units at Kalepa.

“We’re working with the Kaua’i Housing Development Corporation. We’re trying to get money through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program (a federal project administered by the state),” Rainforth said.

He added that the county would like to build 60 more units at Kalepa.

“But the application is for 40. We’ve been advised 60 would be too expensive (for funding),” Rainforth said.

He noted that if the county’s request is approved, in May, the 40-unit expansion would be begun “almost immediately.”

Rainforth said the project would then take nine months to a year to complete.

“There were lots of (county) units available and then almost overnight (a few years ago) the market got fairly tight,” Rainforth said.

“We know there is a need to build (beyond 40 new units). But getting the money is not easy. We (county housing) get an annual (allotment) of $750,000. To build one building, 10 Kalepa units, costs $1.5 million minimum,” Rainforth concluded.

Kalepa is restricted at this time to what is considered low-income, but the limits are generous.

A family of four can live in Kalepa if their annual income is $51,700 or less.

Paanau Village is two-thirds low-income and one-third free market, according to Rainforth.