The state has awarded a contract to start building the first teacher workforce housing project on Oʻahu to help keep educators in Hawaiʻi.
The 109-unit project will be built on the Mililani High School campus for teachers making up to 120% of the state’s annual median income.
The School Facilities Authority awarded the contract to the Pacific Housing Assistance Corporation.
Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association Vice President Logan Okita cited the high cost of housing as why many teachers leave the state.
"We're not able to retain those educators who want to stay here, but they can't afford to stay here," she said. "There are so many educators who at the beginning of their career are living with five or more other people in a house just so that they can pay rent on what they make."
According to the contract offer, 46 of the units would be for those making under 60% of the annual median income, while 63 units would be for those making less than 120% of the annual median income.
A single person making 60% AMI would have a salary of $58,000, while someone making 120% AMI would be making about $100,000 a year.
Karen Arakawa, the Pacific Housing Assistance Corporation's director of project development, explained that teachers fall into a group called gap housing because they make too much to qualify for very low-income housing, but not enough to pay the market rate.
“Building affordable housing for that group has been really difficult because most of the housing finance programs to finance affordable housing targets the low and extremely low income,” she said. “We're really excited to start working on this project.”
The state is expected to spend $5 million on the project while the Pacific Housing Assistance Corporation leverages a combination of other public and private financing programs.
The project is expected to be completed in late 2028.
The vendors that were not selected have three working days to request a debrief from the state procurement officer about the decision. After the debrief, they have five days to protest the contract.
