Senior project poised to take tenants
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
Low-income seniors could be moving as early as today into East Honolulu's first affordable senior-housing complex, depending on the outcome of building inspections.
The 31 one- and two-bedroom units at Kaluanui Senior Apartments boast fixed rents ranging from about $400 to $733 a month — far below market prices — plus a credit of $100-plus toward utilities.
Nearly 200 seniors filled out applications for the complex. However, guidelines dictate that occupants must make less than $22,000 a year, and only 26 qualified, said Mike Klein, a grant writer for the nonprofit Hawai'i Intergenerational Community Development Association, developer for the project.
As a result, several units are still available.
Harry Cooper has his bags packed. He has lined up his son to help him move in as soon as the buildings, on Hawai'i Kai Drive next to the post office, are inspected and approved.
This will be the first time in many years that he will be paying rent that is affordable on his retiree's salary.
He pays $1,200 a month to rent a one-bedroom condo in Hawai'i Kai. After he moves in, he'll be paying $733 at the Kaluanui Senior Apartments for a two-bedroom unit, with a credit toward utilities.
"I've had a lot of interesting jobs in my 86 years, but none of them paid the big salaries," Cooper said. "Now it's paying off, and I'm going to live in a place that is reasonable to rent."
Kaluanui is the community's third senior housing complex, but the first that's deemed affordable.
According to Census Bureau estimates, Hawai'i has one of the largest proportions of residents 65 years or older: 13.3 percent of the population, or 157,596 people. In Hawai'i Kai, it's even greater — 16 percent of the total population, according to the 2000 census.
The four-story Kaluanui Senior Apartments was planned to have two phases, but the second phase may not get built, Klein said.
"Things are moving around on this site," Klein said. "It's all funding related. We put more expensive details into the senior housing to make it look good and to fit into the neighborhood."
Some of the details that were added include wrought-iron railings on the balconies, a tile roof, stucco walls, soundproofed walls and ceilings between the apartments, and a four-acre park. The park has a pond, and a historic site that will be landscaped off. The park will be not be a public park, but will be accessible for residents of the senior housing and other developments nearby.
"It's the only affordable senior housing in East Honolulu ... (and) we wanted to have a building that looked as good or better" than the surrounding area, said Klein.
Reach Suzanne Roig at 395-8831 or sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.
