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Kukui Gardens projects
earn excellence grant

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By Pat Gee
Star-Bulletin

Two years of major renovations to the Kukui Gardens apartments had just been completed when facilities manager Allen Lau got the word.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had given the downtown housing complex an award of excellence and a $124,785 grant to continue programs to fight drugs and crime.

It was one of seven Hawaii housing projects cited for excellence by HUD after it conducted its first nationwide inspection last month. Lau said he and Kukui Gardens board President Lawrence Ching flew to Washington, D.C., for the awards presentation.

Kukui Gardens is the largest HUD-subsidized project on Oahu for low- to moderate-income residents. In 1995, the Kukui Gardens board of directors made it their motto to "put tenants first," even though maintaining the 822 apartments and meeting the daily demands of tenants is an ongoing "chore," Lau said.

The board also decided five years ago to "put more into the community by giving back to the community," he said.

To that end, Kukui Gardens made three apartments available -- rent free -- to house offices for Head Start (an educational day-care center for children under five), Catholic Charities, St. Francis Healthcare System, and three police officers who are part of the city's Weed and Seed Program.

Also offered are programs to help adults qualify for their high-school equivalency diplomas, to teach English as a second language, to help residents gain citizenship, and to assist the elderly with medical referrals, Lau said.

The HUD grant will be used to continue the services and to increase security, Lau said.

"Kukui Gardens has been an excellent partner to make things better in the Kalihi-Palama area," said Maile Kanemura, coordinator of Weed and Seed, a program to fight crime and provide resources to meet an area's needs.

Programs provided at Kukui Gardens to "keep kids out of trouble" have turned the complex into "a community within a community," said project manager Celine Takahashi. She added that the apartments "are in great condition, considering they are over 25 years old."

The other Hawaii projects cited for excellence by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development are:

ARC of Hawaii, Project #10;

Kewalo Apartments;

Pauahi Elderly Housing of Honolulu;

Wilikina Apartments in Wahiawa;

Ka Home Pulama of Hilo;

Lahaina Surf on Maui.