housing

Twinkle Borge is the loving matriarch and steward of the new Pu’uhonua o Wai’anae homestead. The goal is to have homes for 250 people ready by the end of next year. She spoke with HPR's Noe Tanigawa about future plans for the community.

In 2018, up to 300 houseless people were camping at Waiʻanae Boat Harbor on Oʻahu. That’s the year they were threatened with eviction, and in a sudden turn, the state agreed to let the people stay and figure out a community solution. In fact, though the encampment is sprawling and brushy, it has operated a lot like a ramshackle village for the last 10 years.

Hawaiʻi has not experienced a large spike in evictions despite the expiration of both state and federal moratoriums imposed during the coronavirus pandemic.

The new permanent housing project — Kamaʻokū Kauhale — is being built at Kalaeloa (also known as Barbers Point) on land owned by the Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority, and leased to U.S. Vets.

Congress approved $47 billion to pay back rent and prevent evictions. But after nearly 10 months, the vast majority of that money has not reached the millions of people who desperately need it.

The median sales price of a single-family home in Maui County dropped below $1 million last month as people priced out of the market pause their home buying.

For a third consecutive month, the median price for a single-family home on Oʻahu was above $1 million. And while competition is still fierce, there may be signs of stabilization.

The City and County of Honolulu has reopened its rental and utility relief program for new applications. The U.S. Treasury Department cited the city's program as one of the fastest local distributors of federal rent funding.

Key elements of Honolulu’s recovery plan for Downtown-Chinatown hinge on addressing homelessness in the area. Meanwhile, life on the street has gotten worse, according to service providers. But other cities have solved at least one part of the problem, public toilets.

Hawaii AARP State Director shares her concerns about age potentially being a factor when prioritizing care at hospitals during the pandemic; Political Analyst Neal Milner discusses the intersection of race and housing in Hawaiʻi in our bi-weekly segment, The Long View; Honolulu Civil Beat reporter Claire Caulfield talks raising chickens during the pandemic in today's Reality Check; We learn more about the Moa, the red junglefowl Polynesian voyagers first brought to Hawaiʻi in this week's Manu Minute; HPR reporter Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi discusses efforts to teach computers to understand the Hawaiian language; and a Waimanalo native discusses the meaning and history of Hūnānāniho.