A home is like a family member. Some have been with us for generations. Others are the beginning of a new venture. Our homes are more than financial assets. They have deep emotional meaning.
Modernizing our county’s processes for identifying and hiring talent will provide Maui a more sustainable, inclusive, and demand-driven labor force to better enable the county’s growing housing needs.
I am here to work with our communities on much needed infrastructure improvements,
sustainable housing for local residents, while protecting our watersheds and streams, and
preserving the Aina.
What you don’t see in the gallery of photos above are affordable rental properties – because very few exist. Projects that were slated for rental programs turned into condominiums due to the demand. There is a need in every community for apartment-style rentals for singles and families. One to three bedroom units designed with affordable rates for local residents.
The needs in every community are different. We need a study that will identify the actual rental shortages and develop a program that the county and communities can support and approve. Rental programs, if designed accordingly, could add revenue to our county budget.
For those of us fortunate enough to have grown up in houses owned by our parents, they were the backdrop for our childhood memories — the places we played, argued, hung our artwork, and marked the door jam with pencil lines as we grew taller. For better or worse, the houses of our childhoods represented to many of us a good measure of the success our parents had attained, an outward expression of how hard work had paid off in comfort and safety and the respect of the community. The lawn got cut. The paint got freshened up. Maybe a pool and garden got added out back. When things went well, our houses grew with us.
Many families may be feeling the pressure of losing their homes because the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their jobs, businesses and the ability to pay their bills. We need to be prepared to help families as they get back on their feet and not burden them with heavy tax debts – while we all work our way out of the hefty losses of income.
We need to strive for and develop a budget that will not further increase our taxes that would put more strain on families here in Maui County.
We need to support and create financial and budgeting programs, stimulus opportunities, foreclosure counseling, career and Job Fairs – now, more than ever.
Paid for by Friends of Claire Carroll, PO Box 164, Hana, HI 96713. Copyright 2020.
Claire Kamalu Carroll for Maui to County Council 