HUD vouchers go unused
in Kauai housing shortage
LIHUE >> Only about 60 percent of low-income renters on Kauai can find homes with federal subsidies because of a housing shortage, said Gordon Furutani, director of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development office in Hawaii.
That contrasts with 100 percent use of HUD rental vouchers on Maui and the Big Island and about 90 percent usage on Oahu. Furutani said available housing is disappearing throughout the neighbor islands, so Kauai's problem might spread.
Officials say many of those who cannot find housing with the vouchers wind up homeless, maybe living on the beach or sleeping in a car. The housing shortage is partly responsible for the county's homeless problem, leading Mayor Bryan Baptiste to order the eviction of homeless from county park campgrounds.
Ken Rainforth, who heads the Kauai County Housing Office, said his figures are a bit different -- about 75 percent of the HUD vouchers are used on Kauai -- but the problem is real.
"We have enough vouchers to assist 1,100 families. Every month, we only help 800 to 900 because there are no rental units for the rest," Rainforth said.
Only a few years ago, 99 percent of the vouchers were used. But in 1999, Kauai's real estate boom began.
"Houses and condos that traditionally had been long-term rentals became vacation rentals. Snowbirds bought up a lot of homes here for second homes and decided to not rent them out while they were gone," Rainforth said.
Under federal law, 70 percent of the vouchers are provided to people with "extremely low income" (a maximum of 30 percent of the median income), and 30 percent go to people with "very low income" (below 50 percent of median income).
