State Suddenly Swaps Contractor For Major Oʻahu Public Housing Overhaul
No reason was given for the sudden change at Kūhiō Park Terrace, approved Thursday by the Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority’s board.
UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect additional comments later Thursday by Hawaiʻi Housing Authority Executive Director Hakim Ouansafi.
Three weeks after Civil Beat reported on problems faced by public housing tenants being moved out of Kūhiō Park Terrace to make way for new construction, the state has swapped the company overseeing that project.
The Michaels Organization is to be replaced by Highridge Costa Development Co. The Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority in 2023 hired Highridge Costa to tear down nine other public housing properties statewide and build 10,000 new affordable housing units in their place, a project called Ka Lei Momi.
No reason was given for replacing Michaels as developer of the Kūhiō Park Terrace project at a Thursday meeting of the housing authority’s board of directors, but the agency’s chief suggested to the board that financing might have played a role.
Following the meeting, the housing authority’s executive director, Hakim Ouansafi, said Michaels had initiated the decision to transfer management of the project to Highridge Costa, and that the housing authority had approved it after vetting the new company’s capacity to take it on.
The first phase of the redevelopment project is already underway, with 60 families slated to be relocated so their homes, in a part of the property called Low Rise and Kūhiō Homes, can be replaced by 304 new units of affordable housing that Michaels was to build and manage.
Civil Beat reported in February that the relocation had been delayed for months as tenants hit dead ends finding another place to live. Some had been sent to apartments that were already occupied or, in one case, boarded up, and to others far from their workplaces, doctors and children’s schools, or that were inaccessible to people with disabilities.
Also, contrary to housing authority policy and the approved relocation plan, properly translated documents were not always provided to tenants who don’t speak English.
Today, about 20 families still remain in Kūhiō Park Terrace residences that are slated for destruction, residents said Thursday.
Tenants — who for months had staged protests and raised concerns about the relocation problems to housing authority officials and lawmakers — greeted Michaels’ departure with delight.
“I’m so grateful that our prayers were answered. A lot of the people are very happy.”
Kūhiō Park Terrace resident June Talia
The company had ignored their requests for help addressing the problems, they said, as had a firm, Seneca Real Estate Services, that Michaels had hired to manage the relocations. Michaels did not respond to repeated requests Civil Beat made for comments during its reporting for the February story.
“I have nothing personally against them. It’s just that they didn’t keep their promises and they didn’t keep to the other agreements that they made,” said resident June Talia. “I’m so grateful that our prayers were answered. A lot of the people are very happy.”
No Questions Asked
No member of the authority’s board of directors — which voted unanimously to move on from Michaels — asked why the housing agency wanted to switch to Highridge Costa, an affordable housing developer with offices in California and Honolulu.
“Both Michaels and (Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority) mutually agree that transitioning development responsibilities to Highridge is in the best interest of the project and its continued success,” Ouansafi told the board.
However, in later comments, he made reference to the project’s financing.
After board member Todd Taniguchi asked whether the transfer would affect the timeline or financing of the $212 million project, Ouansafi said it would not, but added: “In the last few months when (Michaels) felt that securing the finances may take a little bit longer and a higher rate, they turned” the project over.
Responding to the same question, Ouansafi also said: “It’s very important that the rumors that Michaels were fired, that’s completely inaccurate.”
Following the meeting, in response to questions from Civil Beat, Ouansafi said in an email that the decision to switch developers was made to avoid any delays in the project.
Asked whether the tenants’ complaints had any bearing on the change, Ouansafi said Highridge Costa “is fully informed of the tenant concerns, the ongoing relocation process, the solutions that have been implemented, community perceptions, and all aspects related to the project.”
Advocates for Kūhiō Park Terrace tenants said that simply bringing on a new developer isn’t enough, and the housing authority and Highridge Costa must still honor their legal obligation to properly relocate tenants and ensure they have the right to return when the project is completed.
“If we can’t get this right, right now in Kalihi for tenants facing imminent demolition of their homes, then where does this leave us for the nine public housing complexes slated for redevelopment next?” asked Dina Shek, legal director of Medical-Legal Partnership for Children in Hawaiʻi, which is working with some Kūhiō Park Terrace tenants.
