The Truth About Maui's Housing Crisis
Maui needs a coordinator for affordable housing and a community oversight board.
September 17, 2025 · 4 min read
About the Author
In 1986, I left my county job to start a homeless shelter with Father Bob Turner in an abandoned Catholic church in Puʻunēnē. This had a profound effect on my life’s work to house our local people, including our homeless brothers and sisters.
In 2006, the late Maui County Council member Danny Mateo proposed the Residential Workforce Housing Policy (MCC Chapter 2.96), which required that all market (no price restrictions) developments include 50% of those homes to be built for residents earning from 80% to 140% of the area median income.
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I supported that ordinance, but developers complained that they could not make a profit with the 50% requirement so the Maui County Council reduced the AMI level to 25% of market-priced homes. However, even with that reduction, developers are still complaining about the requirement.
The Residential Workforce Housing Policy has not worked in building affordable homes for our people and should be eliminated. Instead, developers should pay the equivalent value in land or cash to fund Maui County in creating housing for 80% AMI and below.
On July 19, 2021, the Maui County Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan was presented to the Maui County Council. The Plan’s basic tenet is to build homes that do not require our residents to pay more than 30% of their household’s income (a federal standard). These are a few recommendations from the plan that have yet to be implemented:
- Hire an affordable housing coordinator – This position is recommended to be placed in the mayor’s office. The work of the coordinator would be the liaison between the county government and the land development community.
- Appoint a community oversight board – The people of Maui County need to have controls on the work of the affordable housing coordinator and with the funds for building affordable homes.
- Make Maui County the principal agent for building fee simple homes and rentals to house our residents.
- Increase county funds, through revenue or general bonds, for affordable housing paid by higher property taxes on investment properties and excise taxes.
On June 28, 2023, the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization issued a report on the housing crisis in Hawaiʻi. That report concluded that “Hawaii is the most expensive in the nation for housing. Median housing costs are at 2.7 times the national level.”
On March 14, Kauaʻi Mayor Derek Kawakami presented his budget (FY 2025-26) saying, “Our whole business model around affordable housing was to make it profitable and less risky for developers, because the previous model of letting private property owners develop left us with a backlog and a lack of inventory. So, what we have been doing is land-banking, getting all the infrastructure in, having our team securing all the entitlements, and we come to the table to lower the cost of goods. And in that business model, we are already attracting developers to come and help us build more affordable housing for families that work, live, and play right here on Kauaʻi.”
Maui County should follow Kauaʻi County’s example.
The truth is that Maui County leaders have not created affordable homes for their people. The proposal to turn apartments from short-term to long-term use could be delayed for years because of probable lawsuits. We cannot wait any longer. With me, I ask you to voice:
1. Your concerns that homes are not being built at the incomes our residents earn (not more than 30% of their household income).
2. The need for Maui County to fund homes for local people (no more than 30% of income) by using property and general excise taxes to pay for the bonds needed.
3. The hiring of an affordable housing coordinator to coordinate the county home building program and to appoint a community oversight board to oversee that program.
Our culture of ʻohana and aloha will not survive without our action to make housing pono (right) for our local people.
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