Elderly housing
project starts

WAILUKU >> State officials and a private developer broke ground last week at the site of a new 61-unit housing project for the elderly in Wailuku.

The $10.8 million, four-story Lokelani Housing project, located near Ooka Super Market, is to provide housing for seniors who make less than 50 percent of the median income for Maui County.

The annual median income is $60,700, and renters are required to be residents of the state and at least 62 years old, according to federal and state guidelines.

Rents are expected to be $595 for a one-bedroom unit.

The project is expected to be completed by November 2005.

The state Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawaii is providing $715,000 annually for the next 10 years in federal low-income housing tax credits and $214,500 a year in state low-income tax credits to the developer Wailuku Senior Living, L.P.

In exchange, Wailuku Senior Living has agreed to keep rents affordable for 51 years.