Meeting Time:
May 14, 2025 at 9:00am HST
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Aloha Maui County HLU Committee & Council Members,
This is to STRONGLY OPPOSE Bill 40 which could gut protections that prioritize affordable housing for longtime kamaʻāina. This bill is to be heard tomorrow, Wednesday 5/14/2025 at 9 am.
Up until 2021, anyone could move to Maui, call themselves a resident, and get into the affordable housing lottery. There were no weights given to long-time Maui residents.
In 2021, the County Council passed Bill 111, creating a weighted lottery that prioritized residents for affordable housing based on how long they’ve lived in Maui County.
That meant that kūpuna who have lived on Maui their entire lives, would get weighted in the lottery over someone who has just moved here. Bill 111 was modeled after anti-displacement policies in Washington D.C. and was lauded as a creative way to prioritize our residents, while still being in compliance with fair housing laws.
Since 2021, we have been patiently waiting for that law to go into effect......but on Wednesday, Council Member Tasha Kamaʻs bill will attempt to UNDO those protections, before our community has even had a chance to benefit. Her bill (Bill 40) will erase Bill 111, and instead, prioritize anyone who has lived in Maui County for over 3 years.
That puts our kūpuna back in a random pool with everyone else.
That puts our young families, born and raised on Maui, back into a random pool with someone who moved here 3 years ago.
Bill 111 is THE answer to the problem we know so well. Affordable housing project gets built....."affordable for WHO?" people ask. Bill 111 is the ONLY thing that puts long time residents in the front of the line.
IF the deadline is the issue, then include a new deadline in Bill 40 with the same language, and GET TO WORK PUTTING OUR PEOPLE FIRST.
Mahalo,
Joseph Kohn MD
Founder, We Are One, Inc. - www.WeAreOne.cc - WAO
493 Pio Dr Apt 209
Wailuku, HI 96793-2641
808-359-6605
Joseph@WeAreOne.cc
www.WeAreOne.cc
No to Bill 40. The Maui County Council has already passed legislation to make affordable housing a priority to local residents by the length of time living and working on Maui. This makes sense to me and this change to a 3 year period does not help our longtime residents. Every Council member promised to make affordable homes a priority and as soon as they are elected they redo legislation already done to make that promise a reality. Why?
Please see attached.