Low income agricultural rental housing in Hawaii (Community Matters)
A very impressive project in Kunia. The host for this episode is Jay Fidell. The guest for this episode is Stevie Whalen.
Stevie Whalen of HARC will help us understand their project for low income agricultural rental housing in Hawaii.
When Campbell was selling all their land based on the requirements of the trust to dissolve after 100 years, they came to HARC to see if we would take on the DelMonte Kunia agricultural worker camp. We did and created two subsidiaries to help in this effort. Kunia Village title Holding corporation (a 501(c)(2)) and holding) which holds the deed and manages the leasing; Kunia Village Development corporation (a 501(c)(3) non-profit projects) which does the improvements, etc.
Peter Hoffenberg is helping out in providing materials and funding for various aspects of improving the village for its tenants. It is managed for agricultural workers. We were able to improve or construct 82 units through Tax Credit investors and USDA rural housing funding. We are currently working on 53 additional units that need to be repaired.
The county worked with us on a 201H development program that will allow up to 200 units if there is demand in the future. We have secured funding to replace the potable water storage system and are working on improving the Waste Water Treatment plants. The village is not serviced by the county other than trash removal and emergency services.
We really want to improve our wonderful gym for the community: electrical and roofing. The village is pretty much isolated. No bus service nor services within walking distance. Peter helped the village in providing some funding to set up sports clinics for the kids in the village which of course are now on hold due to the pandemic. We have three partners working with us on getting the gym actively used and potentially bringing in revenue for occasional outside use.
ThinkTech Hawaii streams live on the Internet from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Hawaii time most weekdays, then we stream our earlier shows all night long. Check us out any time for great content and great community.
Our vision is to be a leader in shaping a more vital and thriving Hawaii as the foundation for future generations. Our mission is to be the leading digital media platform raising public awareness and promoting civic engagement in Hawaii.
