57 households face relocation as Hawaiian Home Lands nears purchase of Kaua‘i condos

The state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is preparing to acquire an East Side apartment complex on Kauaʻi in early February, which has led 57 households to confront a daunting future: Where will they relocate?

“We don’t know where we’re going to live,” said Wallace Hansen, one of several affected residents who testified Wednesday at a committee meeting of the Kaua‘i County Council.

“I’m 75 years old. I cannot get around like I used to,” Hansen said. “I can’t take the stress of it … This is affecting our health.”

The Courtyards at Waipouli, an 82-unit complex of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in Wailua, was built in 2009. Several units now stand empty in light of the impending sale.

Advocates in 2023 urged the state of Hawai‘i to purchase the Courtyards to establish affordable housing, but in early 2024, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands announced plans to purchase the property for Native Hawaiian beneficiaries.

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is governed by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920. Its primary responsibilities are to serve its Native Hawaiian beneficiaries and to manage a land trust of more than 200,000 acres located throughout the state.

The 1920 act defines Native Hawaiians as individuals having at least 50% Hawaiian blood. The waiting list to receive a residence or land administered by the department is long: The most current summary on its website, published two years ago, lists 29,296 applicants.

Representatives of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and its Courtyards project partners, including Mark Development and Interwest Consulting Group, appeared before the Kaua‘i County Council on Wednesday to provide an update regarding their relocation plan.

Council Chair Mel Rapozo said he has “some concerns” that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands will be unable to relocate 57 households on an island with a notorious lack of affordable housing.

“Let me just start off with the availability of available rentals on Kaua‘i,” he said.

Median rent on Kaua‘i is $2,320 for a two-bedroom apartment, according to ushousingdata.com, in a state whose governor has declared an affordable housing emergency. Zillow puts the average Kaua‘i home value at $978,175.

The Courtyards project team stated current tenants will enter the relocation process in phases as their leases expire.

“Absorbing 57 relocated households in one month is one thing,” said Craig Watase, CEO of the affordable housing management company Mark Development. “Absorbing 57 households over one year or 18-month period is three units a month.”

Courtyards tenants received copies of a draft relocation plan in mid-December. It lists 37 possible relocation sites, six of which are duplicates, according to community organizer and housing researcher Kenna StormoGipson.

Only two relocation sites in the draft plan are on Kaua‘i, StormoGipson said, adding their rent is $9,800 a month.

The draft plan’s inclusion of sites located on the mainland or elsewhere in Hawai‘i reflects interviewed tenants’ stated interest in moving off-island, according to its creators.

However, for some tenants at the Courtyards at Waipouli, moving off-island is not an option. They include 80-year-old Jan Burns and her husband, who say they now pay $3,100 a month for rent. They said they rely on their son Jeremy, who lives nearby.

“If it was your grandpa or grandma, or your mom and dad … I don’t think you would just fold your arms and say, ‘I’m sure everything’s gonna be fine for them,ʻ” Burns said.

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development have set aside $1.9 million in relocation assistance for Courtyards tenants, intended to cover up to 42 months of rent.

“What happens after the 42 months, when the relocation residents cannot afford the rent?” testified Sam Wempler, reading a letter signed by 30 Courtyards tenants.

“A plan to pay considerably higher rents just pushes the can — homelessness or moving off-island — down the road and is not a real solution,” he said.

Certain Courtyards tenants may remain in place for up to 24 months, if not longer under special circumstances, according to Department of Hawaiian Home Lands consultant Christian O’Connor.

But O‘Connor appeared confident the relocation process will be resolved sooner, even as the relocation team works to find sites that match Courtyards tenants’ needs and preferences, ranging from Americans with Disabilities Act requirements to pet-friendly apartments.

“The attempt here is to be pono [good, just, morally upright] and conduct this in a way that’s gentle, appropriate and understands the conditions and circumstances that exist,” OʻConnor said at the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting.

Rapozo and his fellow councilmembers, having listened to the testimony of nine Courtyards residents and supporters, urged the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and its partners to improve their communication with tenants going forward.

“I’m discouraged by the miscommunication or just misunderstanding,” Councilmember Addison Bulosan said.

All 57 households will be interviewed following the anticipated sale of the Courtyards at Waipouli on Feb. 3, and the relocation timeline begins in earnest sometime this spring or summer.

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands did not respond to an inquiry regarding the total cost of the purchase before press time. In September 2024, Civil Beat reported the department needed at least $44 million to close the deal.

Rapozo said the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands project is the “last shot” to house a local demographic at the Courtyards at Waipouli.

‘I said mahalo [thank you] to DHHL for stepping up and trying to at least retain this for local housing,” Rapozo said. “Because the alternative is time-shares … We will lose 82 units forever.”