Maui County housing director reports hires, posts list of 97 projects as department builds capacity ahead of budget

On Feb. 19 the Maui County Council's Housing and Land Use Committee heard an update from Remy Mitchell, director of the Department of Housing, who said the department is actively recruiting for multiple positions and preparing a public project list as it moves toward the budget cycle.

Mitchell told the committee "it's been a little under 2 weeks since we last spoke" and summarized actions taken since an earlier briefing, including scheduling interviews for a housing choice supervisor in the federal programs division and posting for a Program Specialist 5 in the county housing programs division. He said the department has "7 or so applicants" for the supervisor role and plans to post a Research Analyst 5 position for the county housing programs division.

The update came as council members pressed the department on staffing, project tracking and program readiness ahead of budget decisions. Mitchell said he signed a letter to Council Member Yuki Lei Sugimura identifying 97 projects the department is tracking and delivered a flash drive containing residential workforce housing agreements. "What I've compiled are all the projects for which there was a residential workforce housing agreement that the county was required to track, and that was 96 projects," he added while clarifying the list totaled 97 in his later comments.

Nut graf: The department's staffing and information systems will affect how quickly Maui County can advance housing projects and respond to near-term needs such as rental-assistance demand and post-disaster recovery planning. Council members said they want a clearer, centralized record of projects as budget deliberations begin.

Key details and next steps

- Hiring and organization: Mitchell said interviews for the housing choice voucher supervisor are scheduled "either this week or next week," with roughly "7 or so applicants." The department is updating position descriptions and preparing reorganization documents that will go through the county's consultation process (noted as a minimum 30-day consultation) before new positions can be posted.

- Vacancies and qualifications: Mitchell told the committee that some minimum qualifications on older position descriptions date to the 1990s, creating friction in recruitment; staff are updating descriptions before posting.

- Project tracking and public access: Mitchell said he will work with IT to publish an online list of projects the department is tracking, including status labels (pending, under construction, completed, inactive). He said the spreadsheet and agreements he delivered to council staff are an initial tranche and that he will move to host a consolidated list on the Department of Housing website.

- Portal and budget: Committee members and staff discussed an existing $2,000,000 line item in the proposed budget for a housing portal and outreach. Mitchell said he is exploring whether the work can be done internally by IT or requires an outside vendor and will meet IT next week to scope options. He said an in-house approach could reduce costs.

- Recruitment incentives and carryover funds: Council members raised whether departments could use carryover savings for signing or retention bonuses to attract staff. Mitchell said the idea has not been formally proposed within his leadership team and that he would first confirm legal permissibility before recommending such steps.

- Rental assistance and eviction moratorium: Committee members discussed concerns that the state or federal eviction moratoriums and changes in policy may increase demand for rental assistance. Mitchell said the department is considering a broader, short-term rental-assistance approach rather than shoehorning needs into narrowly targeted existing programs.

- Program agreements under review: Mitchell reported the Ohana assistance program agreements and lien/grant documents were under review by Corporation Counsel and that staff are working through policy decisions prior to finalizing program documents.

Committee context and follow-up

Committee Chair Tasha Kamat and council members asked Mitchell to return with additional, written information. Members repeatedly requested the centralized project list and a written summary of each project's status. Mitchell said he will provide the webpage/listing and come back to the committee with progress updates.

Ending: The committee recessed for break after the update and scheduled follow-up work; Mitchell and staff were expected to appear at later meetings to provide more detailed data and to continue the discussion during budget hearings.