KAUMAKANI, Kaua'i — The president of Gay & Robinson says Kaua'i needs affordable worker housing for its planned Garden Isle ethanol venture to succeed.

The company plans to create an estimated 100 new jobs as it transitions from a raw sugar producer to an ethanol manufacturer. The move will also save some 230 jobs that would be lost if the ethanol plant isn't built.

But Gay & Robinson President Alan Kennett says being able to fill these jobs and maintain a workforce depends on employees' ability to find affordable places to live.

"The problem is we don't have enough homes to attract more workers," he said at a meeting last month with Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona.

Gay & Robinson offers some affordable housing at the three plantation camps it operates, but Kennett says it needs more.

The company plans to invest $80 million to build a plant that would be the first in the nation to turn sugar into ethanol. Construction is expected to begin next year.

But the gap between housing costs on Kaua'i and wages is a problem.

Marvin Yasay, 44, has worked at Gay & Robinson for 26 years, starting soon after he finished high school. He said he now earns just more than $10 an hour.

Employees have had one raise in the past seven years, Kennett said, or about a $6-a-week increase. Meanwhile, the median price of a home on Kaua'i is $515,150, the Hawaii Information Service reported this month.

"They've been understanding," Kennett added.

Yasay said he was able to save some money while living at Gay & Robinson's Kaumakani Camp.

He now lives in a new Habitat for Humanity home in 'Ele'ele that he traded 700 "sweat equity" hours to buy. The program rewards zero percent interest on the house mortgage.

County Councilman Jay Furfaro, who chairs the Economic Development Committee, said the key to job retention is home ownership.

If Gay & Robinson would provide land to build affordable units, he said, a joint venture could be formed to pave the way for employees to own their homes at the end of a 20-year period.

By making land available incrementally in 15-acre units or less, Furfaro continued, the venture would only need county approval to change the land's zoning designation to residential.

"But there has to be an opportunity for longevity on the job for people to own a home," Furfaro said.

The ethanol plant will have the capacity to produce more than a quarter of Hawai'i's current needs for the gasoline additive, company officials say.

State law says gasoline sold in the Islands must be blended with 10 percent ethanol. It's part of an effort to reduce Hawai'i's dependence on foreign oil and boost local sugar-cane production. But companies here have had to import ethanol since the law went into effect last year because there aren't any local suppliers for the product.

The plant is expected to use sugar juice and molasses as raw material.