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Posted at 1:49 p.m., Friday, June 15, 2007

High rents drain Maui county assistance funds

By ILIMA LOOMIS
The Maui News

WAILUKU – The high cost of housing and a shortage of federal assistance are driving demand for a county rental subsidy program in its first year, The Maui News reported.

Participating nonprofit agencies have helped around 212 families since the program started last summer, but most have had to turn away clients when they used up their grants, totaling $400,000, by this spring.

"We get more calls than we have money for," said Maude Cummings of the Family Life Center.

Clients of the program can receive a one-time payment to cover deposit and first-month's rent, or they can sign up for a long-term subsidy that will cover a portion of their monthly rent in smaller and smaller amounts for up to a year.

The county is in the process of releasing another $400,000 in grants to the nonprofits, and a third installment will become available when the county's 2007-08 fiscal year starts July 1.

While much of the public debate on affordable housing has focused on the cost of buying a home, the high cost of rent is a bigger issue for the thousands of Maui families who earn significantly less than the median income, said Fran Joswick.

Joswick is with Maui Economic Concerns for the Community, a homeless assistance agency participating in the rental assistance program.

"Homeownership at this point in their lives is totally unrealistic," she said.

Even with a robust rental market, there just isn't enough inventory in a price range low-earners can afford.

"In Lahaina, we haven't been able to find anything at all," Cummings said. "A lot of landlords aren't even listing their units when they become available because they go so fast."

Case workers inspect apartments for safety before approving a rental subsidy, but many of the units are still "run down," Cummings acknowledged.

"As opposed to staying on the beach, sometimes it's acceptable," she said.

Other forms of assistance are already stretched to the limit, with a waiting list of 1,430 Maui families for the federal Section 8 housing subsidy program.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allows those considered "extremely low income" to jump to the top of the list, but it can be a very long wait for others who need help, said county Housing Division Administrator Ed Okubo.

"For the average applicant, we're indicating it might be a four- to five-year wait," Okubo said.

Initial funding for county rental assistance was appropriated in 2005 and released when the program started last summer. Maui Economic Opportunity received a first installment of $135,000, while Maui Economic Concerns for the Community received $110,000, the Family Life Center received $80,000 and Women Helping Women received $70,000.

Cutting into the numbers that can receive assistance by the program, high rents forced the county to increase the maximum allowable subsidy from $2,500 to $3,500.

Rudy Esquer, who oversees the program for the county Department of Housing and Human Concerns, said he heard from case managers not long after the program started that the $2,500 subsidy just wasn't cutting it in Maui's rental market. The higher subsidy amounts have used up the funding even faster than expected.

"If rents were lower, we could help a lot more people," Esquer said.

Meanwhile, the lack of affordable rentals, combined with the waiting list for Section 8, has increased demand.

Maui Economic Opportunity currently has a waiting list of around 40 families for assistance through the county program, said Lyn McNeff, while the Family Life Center, not wanting to give clients "false hope" by signing up for a list, is simply telling applicants to call back when more money is available.

"We're not taking any new clients until July," Cummings said.

Women Helping Women was able to help 37 clients with rental assistance before running out of first-year program funds last month, said Monique Yamashita.

"Requests are still coming in," she said.

The agency used its grant to help women fleeing domestic violence to rent housing where they would be safe.

"It's made a huge difference," Yamashita said. "I've seen families come in who were going to lose the place where they live, but because we were able to assist them they were able to stay. It's pretty heartwarming."

MECC's Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource Center has used the program to help clients move out of its shelter and into rental homes of their own.

Maui's high-priced rental market has slowed turnover at the shelter, making it harder for clients to move out, and reducing opportunities to help other homeless, Joswick said.

"We've found our residents are staying longer," she said.

That was the dilemma faced by Sherian, a one-time resident of the Wailuku shelter who asked that her last name not be used. Sherian, who spent time in rehab and lived out of her car before going to Ka Hale A Ke Ola, said she felt emotionally ready to move out of the shelter after 13 months. But she couldn't afford to, even though she was working.

"I would get paid every week, but that still wasn't cutting it," she said.

Sherian said there was no chance she could have found a rental unit in her price range on the open market.

"Single mom, no car?" she said. "I wouldn't be able to afford it."

And after looking into it, she also gave up on getting assistance through Section 8.

"I was going to apply, but the waiting list is ridiculous, like five years," she said. "I didn't bother to sign up."

With the help of Ka Hale A Ke Ola case workers, she applied for the county assistance program and received a $1,150 down payment for a unit at Hale Makana o Waiale, a low-cost housing complex also run by MECC.

She moved in in April, with three of her children.

Now Sherian also receives a regular subsidy that helps her cover part of her monthly $575 rent. Each payment gets a little smaller, allowing her to take on more of the cost herself as time goes on.

"At least it's a slow process, so when I come to the end of the year I know I can pay it," she said.

While she said the county needs more low-cost rental projects like Hale Makana, Sherian said she's grateful she was able to get into a unit and qualify for rental assistance.

She said the program has given her confidence and a sense of security as she gets back on her feet.

"Now I'm not afraid," she said. "I know I'm not going to be homeless again."

For more Maui news, visit The Maui News.