Posted on: Sunday, July 8, 2001

Editorial
Kaka'ako must not abandon early vision

It may be time to rethink the specifics of an "affordable housing" requirement for developers in the state-controlled Kaka'ako area, but the requirement should not be eliminated.

The Hawai'i Community Development Authority, the state agency that controls the Kaka'ako area, is thinking about suspending the affordable requirement for up to three years.

The idea is to kick-start some housing development action in the area. While there has been considerable commercial development and infrastructure improvements in Kaka'ako, a slow economy has put a damper on housing development.

Under today's rules, developers must provide a substantial percentage of "affordable" housing or put up money for construction of such housing off-site.

The original theory was that Kaka'ako was traditionally a low-to-moderate-income, blue-collar neighborhood, and that quality should at least partly be preserved under redevelopment. Unlike other close-in neighborhoods, Kaka'ako would not be reserved for the affluent.

It would, in short, become a mixed neighborhood of commercial development, up-scale housing and housing for the working man and woman on limited wages.

That remains a sound vision. The amount of "extraction" applied on developers might have to be adjusted, in part to recognize the expanded inventory of more affordable housing in West O'ahu and the changing character of Kaka'ako as it redevelops.

But unless and until someone can convincingly demonstrate that there is no need for additional moderately priced housing in the urban core, the requirement must not be abandoned.