Lower Puna residents who receive government housing assistance, already stressing over the threat of lava consuming their homes, are facing a new fear. They may have to leave their beloved community.
Hawaii County has put a moratorium on new leases in lower Puna for some 536 federal Housing and Urban Development Section 8 homes in Pahoa, Hawaiian Beaches, Hawaiian Shores, Nanawale, Leilani Estates, Hawaiian Paradise Park, Orchidland and Aina Lani.
The decision cuts into an already tight inventory of affordable housing for voucher recipients. Housing in the program generally runs about $562 monthly for studio apartments, $903 for two bedroom units to $1,508 for a five or more bedroom house. Recipients pay a portion of the rent and the rest is paid by the government.
Existing renters in the program won’t have to leave their homes unless they’re under evacuation orders from county Civil Defense. And tenants whose leases expire in non-evacuation areas will still be allowed to continue on a month-to-month rental.
But anyone seeking a new rental, even in areas miles from the lava flow, won’t be able to get them. That’s because county housing administrators are concerned the Housing Choice voucher tenants could become isolated if lava crosses Highway 130, and an alternate route through Chain of Craters Road isn’t completed.
“It’s a very difficult decision, and it’s not something that we wanted to do,” county Assistant Housing Administrator Susan Akiyama said Wednesday. “We just can’t put people down there right now.”
Akiyama said the county is constantly reassessing the situation, understanding that affordable housing options are limited and many people living in Puna want to stay there.
Housing Choice voucher tenants have been discussing the issue on Facebook, with at least one advising that people don’t leave their HUD homes, because they won’t be able to come back. None of the participants could be reached for verification by press time Wednesday.
The decision is stressful for renters, but it’s also stressful for landlords, many of whom count on that rent check to pay their mortgage, said Nancy Cabral, owner of Day-Lum Properties. Her company manages hundreds of residential and commercial leases in East Hawaii, including 47 affordable rentals in Puna.
“It’s a huge deal,” Cabral said. “Never is everybody going to be a winner in this one.”
Cabral doesn’t understand why a tenant in an area threatened by the lava couldn’t move farther away, even if it’s deeper into Puna, an area with cheaper housing prices than most other areas in East Hawaii.
“If you have to evacuate, I’m sure a lot of these people would prefer to be in a home in Nanawale or Leilani Estates than homeless,” she said.
Cabral and other property managers have been putting their heads together trying to come up with housing alternatives since the county notified them of the new policy Oct. 14. She said she spoke with Mayor Billy Kenoi about it Saturday, and he told her to send suggestions in writing.
That letter is going out today, she said.