Housing fund debate focuses on project readiness, scoring and West Maui timelines

The Budget, Finance & Economic Development Committee continued deliberations on the County’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget on April 30, 2025, focusing at length on the Department of Housing’s recently completed request-for-applications process for the Affordable Housing Fund and on several West Maui projects seeking county support.

Why it matters: Council members pressed housing officials on how projects were scored and why several high-profile askers — including a West Maui developer who holds county land — received lower priority in the mayor’s budget. Members said timing matters because county seed money is used to leverage state Low‑Income Housing Tax Credit rounds; developers said sequential funding cycles can add years to project schedules.

Housing department officials told the committee they reconstituted the Affordable Housing Fund RFP this year to re‑establish a transparent, independent review. Director Richard Mitchell said the administration asked an independent panel — including outside experts and senior staff from other county departments — to score applications on readiness, affordability period, AMI targeting and leveraging of other funds. Mitchell said the department prioritized projects that scored higher across those objective criteria and then sent a ranked list to the mayor’s office for inclusion in the proposed budget.

Deputy Director Mata (Department of Housing) told members the review committee had five weeks to review proposals and that some projects were left off the mayor’s list after factoring in low scores on AMI targeting, affordability period and leverage of other funds. “We went through that process and selected 12 projects out of the 19 that were included in our budget and sent that to the mayor’s office,” Mata said.

Developers and residents urged the council to weigh readiness and local need. Douglas Bigley, who is developing an affordable project on county‑owned land in West Maui, said his team has completed certain predevelopment steps but that the multi‑agency funding sequence — county first, then state rounds that occur only once a year — means missing county disbursement timing can delay construction by 18 months to two years. “If the county money is not in place in February, I can’t get my state funding in August and the project slips,” Bigley said. He estimated construction would start in 2028–2029 under current timelines.

Mitchell and Mata acknowledged the sequential nature of state and county processes can slow projects. Mitchell said the department is considering refinements in the next RFP round — for example, favoring loan requests over grants so the Affordable Housing Fund can be recycled. “We want this to be circular so that the fund is not depleted and can leverage private capital,” Mitchell said.

Council members repeatedly asked whether geographic need, especially immediate post‑fire demand in West Maui, was being reflected in scoring. Deputy Mata said scoring emphasized lower AMI targeting and long affordability periods (which scored more points), and that some West Maui proposals scored lower on those specific metrics even as the department and administration continued to support affordable housing across the county.

What was decided: The committee did not vote to change the scoring process at the hearing. Members asked staff and the department to return with clarifying materials, including: (1) the department’s scoring rubric, (2) the ranked list sent to the mayor’s office, and (3) an accounting of how use of grants versus loans affected the fund’s capacity to leverage state resources.

What’s next: Members signaled a desire to resolve the timing mismatch between the county’s budget calendar and the state’s allocation rounds so that shovel‑ready projects are not delayed because of sequential application windows. Housing staff said they have begun conversations with the state housing agency about aligning processes.

Ending note: The committee also heard repeated testimony from West Maui residents and nonprofit representatives pressing for flexibility so county seed funds can be used to prevent long gaps between award decisions and construction starts.