This is one of the models for the affordable homes that will be
available in the Lokahi Greens part of Ewa Villages. Price: $153,000.

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Developer
could pay just
$20,000 per lot

Ewa Villages residents
and councilmembers rip
a housing deal in outrage

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

Unity House officials say they will spend a minimum of $130,000 on each of 96 affordable homes they are developing as part of the Lokahi Greens project in Ewa Villages.

The labor-sponsored agency agreed to pay the city roughly $95,000 per lot but only needed to come up with about $20,000 each. That's because Mayor Jeremy Harris allowed about $75,000 of the cost to be borne by federal Community Development Block Grant monies.

Ewa Villages residents and several City Council members earlier expressed outrage that Unity House could purchase lots with what amounted to $2 million of its own money.

Yesterday, Unity House President Tony Rutledge showed schematics of the project.

Three- to four-bedroom units with lots averaging 5,000 square feet will cost between $153,000 and $164,000.

Rutledge pointed to a survey showing the Lokahi Greens project with more space and lower prices than four other competing housing projects in the growing Ewa area.

To be eligible, a family must collect no more than 80 percent of the median family income on Oahu of $46,000 a year.

Preference on a third of the units will be given to old-time residents of Ewa Villages. Members of Hawaii unions have first crack at another third.

Project manager Mike Scarfone said critics have neglected to mention that after purchasing the lots, the developer has had to regrade them as well as put in water and sewer pipes and roads, at a cost of $20,000 per lot.

Scarfone also said critics have no cause to blame when Unity House fairly "responded to a request for proposals" as others could have.

Rutledge said the key reasoning for the undertaking was to allow some of its members to "get into a quality home they can afford."

The schedule calls for applications to be submitted by Sept. 21 with a lottery expected to take place Sept. 26.

Construction is set to begin November 1998 and be completed by November 1999. The first homeowners are slated to move in beginning March 1999.

Lokahi Greens is part of the city's bailout plan for Ewa Villages. The original city project was designed to preserve the historic character of the former plantation community in providing homes for its residents and affordable housing for others.

But the project was plagued by lagging sales due primarily to the flat economy.

Late last year, two former city officials and nine others were indicted in a criminal fraud case involving $5.5 million in relocation funds that were to be used to move tenants.

The administration's deal with Unity House has led to some grousing by Council members. Councilwoman Donna Mercado Kim accused the administration of setting up a "sweetheart deal" for the organization.

Kim and other Council members believe Unity House had originally committed to purchasing and developing 153 lots and that the CDBG subsidy was to lower the price of lots for Unity House to $53,000 each, not $20,000.

Union officials yesterday said they had only been given the option to buy the additional lots.

They added they had originally envisioned creating market-priced homes on the additional lots to help subsidize the cost of the affordable homes.

The second phase proved un-feasible, Scarfone said.

By concentrating on 96 lots, Unity House is able to pass on larger savings to home buyers, he said.