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Seniors Fear Sharp Rent Increases In Kakaako

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Seniors in a Kakaako housing complex are worried they will end up on the street after receiving notices that their rent is scheduled to go up to $916 per month, a sharp increase from the current monthly rate of $675.

The development, Na Lei Hulu Kupuna, is across the street from Mother Waldron Neighborhood Park at the corner of Halekauwila and Cooke streets. It has 75 studio units and is part of the Kakaako state redevelopment district that’s seen a recent influx of high-end condominiums.

Garett Kamemoto is acting executive director of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency that’s in charge of zoning in the district. He said the agency previously owned 1 percent of the facility but sold it to Mark Development because the private developer promised to upgrade the aging building.

Alfonsa Omengebar Hokulani, 81, says she’s been unable to sleep well since hearing about rent increases in the Kakaako complex.

Anita Hofschneider/Civil Beat

The other 99 percent of the building was owned by Bank of Hawaii. Mark Development paid nearly $2.9 million for the property.

The change in property ownership went into effect on Dec. 29, according to a letter Mark Development sent tenants.

Residents received letters on Jan. 25 asking them to sign a new lease with the higher rent by Feb. 15 or vacate the premises by March 1.

“I am stressed out,” said Alfonsa Omengebar Hokulani, an 81-year-old resident who has lived in the building for seven years. “I cannot sleep at night.”

Part of the problem is the ambiguity about the rent increases and when they would take effect.

Some residents who receive subsidized rent — and pay closer to $500 per month – were told they would continue to receive subsidies for the next year but don’t know what will happen after that. Others who don’t receive any subsidies and pay $675 per month fear having to pay the full $916 immediately.

Mark Development plans to meet with residents Tuesday. They’re so concerned that some of them have called the governor’s office and reached out for help from Unite Here Local 5, a union for hotel and service workers.

The 2018 fair market rent for a studio in Honolulu is $1,261, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Many seniors on fixed incomes rely on subsidized rents to afford the high cost of living in Honolulu, including medical expenses and food.

Mark Development did not return an email sent Friday requesting a comment for this story. Officials with Honolulu and the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., which own the land beneath the facility, also did not respond to inquiries about the rent increases Friday afternoon.

In a 2014 letter, Mark Development’s president Craig Watase said no residents would be displaced by the sale.

A 2015 Honolulu Star-Advertiser article quoted Watase saying, “Most tenants will pay the same or less under our plan.”

The post Seniors Fear Sharp Rent Increases In Kakaako appeared first on Honolulu Civil Beat.


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