State wants to tear down, replace Kuhio Park Terrace
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
State housing officials want to tear down the 36-year-old landmark Kuhio Park Terrace public housing project and rebuild it with family-friendly, yet fewer, low-rise apartments.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
The estimated $71 million redevelopment is part of the state's larger plan to revitalize the Kalihi-Palama area as well as "deconcentrate" low-income housing — a controversial initiative pushed by the federal housing department.
Pualeilani Emerson, who has lived at Kuhio Park Terrace for 32 years, says she's concerned about residents who won't have a place to go.
Made up of two 17-story buildings and low-rise structures, Kuhio Park Terrace is the largest state housing project in Hawai'i.
The state's plan to redevelop the project depends on whether it can get a federal grant of up to $35 million.
Housing officials want to demolish the 614-unit project and replace it with a new project with 417 units and a resource center for childcare, job training and other programs. Slightly more than 180 units are to remain traditional public-housing rentals and rent-to-own units. Rent for public housing is currently set at 30 percent of adjusted monthly income.
Plans also call for 100 mid-rise units for the elderly and 10 home lots that can be purchased. The remaining 120-plus units would be designated "mixed-income," with a higher fixed-rent structure.
Kuhio Park Terrace has long been associated with drug dealing and gang violence, although officials and some residents say the situation has greatly improved over the past several years because of increased security and other programs.
But the facilities are still in need of major repairs, said Sharyn Miyashiro, executive director of the Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawai'i, the state agency that oversees public housing.
"The building itself — the elevators, the electrical systems, the plumbing — it's old," she said. She said residents complain of leaks and plumbing backups.
A handful of Kuhio Park Terrace residents interviewed by The Advertiser agreed the facilities need work, but they had mixed opinions about tearing down the project and constructing a new one.
Rasela Iiga, a 34-year-old mother of four young children, said replacing the high-rise buildings is a good idea.
"That's much better," she said. "This one is too high for the kids. It's old and there are too many cockroaches."
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Iiga, who has lived at Kuhio Park Terrace since 1996, also complained the elevators break down about once a month, forcing her family to take the stairs to and from their 15th-floor apartment.
Longtime resident Linda Sulu, taking granddaughter Keisha Sulu for a walk, favors renovation over demolition.
Linda Sulu, a resident for 30 years, called the redevelopment a waste of time and money and said state officials should renovate the units instead of tearing them down.
"There's nothing wrong with the units," she said. "All it needs is fixing the tiles and cabinets, and other things need renovating. They should just redo the insides.
"I would rather stay in the high-rise because I'm comfortable. You know your neighbors."
Pualeilani Emerson, a resident for 32 years, said she has mixed feelings about the plans.
"In a way a change would be nice," she said. But she said she's worried about residents being displaced because the development calls for almost 200 fewer units.
"What are they doing to do with the people that's going to be hard to relocate?" she said.
Historically, only 25 percent to 30 percent of families choose to return to a housing project after renovations or construction is completed, Miyashiro said. About 500 families live in Kuhio Park Terrace now.
Those still living there when construction is about to begin would be moved to vacant public housing units or given Section 8 vouchers that help pay for private rentals.
"We would never not look out for residents that are in occupancy," Miyashiro said. "We would have to have a relocation plan in place, and we would have to accommodate them."
Development Branch chief Darrell Chun said the revitalization project includes a request for one Section 8 voucher for every unit that is not replaced.
Miyashiro said Kuhio Park Terrace tenants would be given a chance to return before other families could move in. Families could also receive subsidies or use Section 8 vouchers to live in the "mixed-income" units.
Nearly 60 percent of Kuhio Park Terrace residents who participated in a state survey in March said the housing project was not fine the way it is. Seventy percent of surveyed residents said families with children should not live in a high-rise, and 57 percent agreed that the towers should be replaced with low-rise units.
Housing officials can move ahead with a resource center for the housing project because $10 million for it is already available, Miyashiro said. Next month, the state will apply for a federal HOPE VI grant, which is required before action can be taken on the revitalization plan.
The state has appropriated $10 million as a show of commitment for the revitalization. The rest of the money for the redevelopment would come from the Rental Housing Trust Fund and other sources, Miyashiro said.
Chun said the grant is extremely competitive, noting that only 18 of the more than 70 grant applications submitted last year were approved.
Federal housing officials rejected an earlier HOPE VI grant application from the state for the planned revitalization of the 49-year-old Mayor Wright Homes. The revitalization, which would have included replacing apartments with townhouse units and building community and childcare facilities, is now on hold. Miyashiro said housing officials will work on another master plan for the project later this year.
But the Kuhio Park Terrace revitalization plan appears to reflect federal housing officials' priorities more than the Mayor Wright plan, Miyashiro said, because the federal government is working to replace high-rises with low-rise buildings.
The Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawai'i will have a public hearing on the redevelopment plans for Kuhio Park Terrace at 6 p.m., June 8 at Kalihi Waena School.
