Waipouli residents no need move
Couldn’t believe TGI’s “Must Move” article about not buying “affordable housing” apartments at the Courtyards at Waipouli. As reported: “The county has a built-in option within the affordable housing 10-year contract to purchase the units and keep it from being sold on the open marker, but the asking price is $37 million.”
Kauai’s new Managing Director Mike Dahilig “explained that an offer was on the table for $37 million for the county to purchase the Courtyards in November.” He then adds: “The county’s reserve, in terms of our overall budget reserve, is approximately $34 million.” That leaves a $3 million shortfall that needs to be found!
Suggestion: defer forwarding Resolution No. 2019-1 to the Salary Commission, which sets forth the maximum salaries of all elected and appointed officers as defined in Section 23.01. of the Charter.: Forget pay raises until after the purchase of Courtyards at Waipouli; and most definitely get an appraisal and pay a fair price for it.
Not wishing to limit any one group in delivering needed funds, initiate a new nonprofit “Citizens Affordable Housing Fund” that would be funded by the tourism industry; on association run by citizens, not politicians, that would oversee a 50-cent charge added to daily vacation rentals of every tourism rental unit on Kauai.
Example: Kauai Tourism Strategic Plan 2016-2018 reported 8,675 vacation accommodation units on Kauai including all hotels, timeshares, condos, individual vacation units, B&Bs, other hostel units. The 8,675 units x 50 cents a day = $4,337.50 per day; times 365 days = $1,583,187.50 per year. About $1.5 million annually to build affordable homes only; no political appropriations. Think about it: $1.5 million every year from private tourism sector facilities and structures, not from higher resident tax increases.
Government and tourism are contributing to the lack of affordable housing; let them both share in the cost of new affordable homes/living units for Kauai’s resident citizens.
John Hoff, Lawai
I’ve got a better idea: Instead of subsidizing housing for people that should not be living on the Hawaiian islands because they cannot afford it, take the $37M and cut a check to the 70,000 taxpayers on this island for $500. After all, it’s the taxpayers money. Stop using taxpayer money to subsidize housing for people that should not be living in the highest cost of living area. Stop the madness!
I’ve got an even better idea Jake. For those well off citizens who resist paying their fair share of taxes on luxurious properties in Kauai, they should consider relocating to the Mainland. They will find many tax avoidance gardens of Eden in in states like Alabama and Mississippi where they can store their wealth without any concern for community.
Funny, I was going to suggest those that cannot afford to live here, without Section 8 Housing, Welfare, SNAP, and Medicaid, move to those two beautiful Gulf Coast States with a low cost of living and infinite job opportunities.
But I get it……..it’s easier to stay here, play the blame game, be a victim towards all the “well off citizens”, and then collect tax dollars that should be going to benefit everyone on this island, not just to those that “want” to live here and cannot afford it. This is the perfect Blue State. Stop the madness!
‘Hawaii resident citizens’…..breaking news, all Americans are ‘citizens’ and if living on Kauai they are likewise ‘residents’….dog whistle racism?
Disagree. Use the tax money on fixing the roads, infrastructure and such, things that benefit all Kauaiians, not just a few.
Help us understand John, you suggest spending the entire County tax payer provided $33 MILLION DOLLAR reserve, that is provided and benefits all 70,000 people living on Kauai, so that a few people who live in a specific apartment building will not have to move? Seriously?
“Build more affordable housing”. Think!! Think! Think! Just for the hell of it, take out the word “affordable”. So now it’s “build more housing”. For whom? This provides for a continued growth of vacation rental units; which provides for more low paying service type jobs; which are being filled by “imported” laborers; who then complain that they can’t afford to buy a home.
Does anyone else see the irony and idiocy of this?
Let me get this straight…
So you move your rich white ass to Kauai and make our island your new home…
Now you feel that you can call the shots on who gets to stay and who needs to leave?
REALLY..
Shouldn’t this comment be removed for racist remarks? I am all for free speech but replace “white” with any other color and think about how fast it would be flagged and removed.
“Our Island”……I love the third grade mentality on this island. “But I was here first”!
Stop the Madness!
they gonna all have to join the military , jokers!
Honey Tonk. That is a pretty bad, narrow-minded comment. Don’t you think that any of the wealthy or well-off people here on Kaua’i are born and raised here? If so, you need to look around a little more. What about the ‘white’ people that have worked there way up from a minimum wage job, progressed to higher positions, risked everything to start their own business to only employ local people? Are they bad because they are white?
Just one question. When all the people who can’t afford to live here leave who is going to bag your groceries, pour your coffee, take care of your lawn?
Not everyone has kids, why should childless people pay for schools? That’s why in a perfect world everyone should be concerned about the health and welfare of every citizen so that we can all get along. History is littered with collapsed civilizations and governments that allowed huge differences between their rich and their poor.
I really wanted to let it go, but ok…..
Your “Taxes” go for EVERYTHING. Do you use the court system everyday? Do you use the Police everyday? Do you use the Fire Department every day? Public Hospitals, ….but don’t get sick? Attend National Parks? Taxes are a way for a society to function…….um, we don’t use them all, or not everyday.
Generally, a society does not want a bunch of dumb people, so we pay for free education. You actually benefit with a society with a basic level of education. The more educated a society is, theoretically, the better your life…..you indirectly benefit.
When all of the non-skilled workers (you have listed) leave the islands for better job opportunities, a higher standard of living, and higher wages, then the non-skilled workers, remaining on this island, will be in higher demand, and make more money. It’s not that hard. You don’t have to worry about having non-skilled workers on the islands…..the problem is the opposite.