Tax credits
promote affordable
rental units
The state awards $19.2 million
to local private developers
Star-Bulletin staff
The state has awarded $19.2 million in tax credits for private developers to build or refurbish 282 affordable rental units in Hawaii, including the first project targeting low-income native Hawaiian seniors.
The Housing and Community Development Corp. board of directors yesterday also authorized $7 million from a rental trust fund to go toward several of the projects plus a homeless center on West Maui.
The five organizations receiving the assistance are:
Pacific Housing Assistance Corp., which was awarded $3.8 million in federal and state tax credits over 10 years and $1 million from the Rental Housing Trust Fund for a Waimanalo project. The 82-unit project will be the first to target elderly, low-income native Hawaiians.
Homeless Solutions Inc., awarded nearly $1.2 million in credits and $1 million from the trust fund for the existing Weinberg Hale in Moiliili. The facility has 58 units for homeless and mentally ill people.
Hawaii Housing Development Corp., awarded $9.75 million in credits and $4 million from the trust fund for an 80-unit senior rental project on Kalakaua Avenue on Oahu.
Maui Economic Concerns of the Community Inc., awarded a $1 million trust fund loan, for a West Maui homeless resource center, which will include a dormitory, offices and kitchen facilities.
Hawaii Island Community Development Corp., awarded about $4.6 million in credits and a roughly $4.7 million construction loan for senior housing in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island. It will feature 36 one-bedroom units.
Gov. Ben Cayetano said the projects will help meet a growing need for elderly housing.
The tax credits can be used to reduce a developer's tax liability for 10 years and to keep rents in a range deemed affordable by the state.
