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Housing, land-management budget spotlights Iwilei planning, affordable-housing funds and land inventory
Summary
Department of Housing, Land & Management presented FY27 budget changes and said it is leveraging grants and CIP to advance Iwilei redevelopment and affordable housing. Director Auger reported $2M FTA funding for Iwilei planning and highlighted a $26.8M affordable-housing war chest while promising a city-owned land inventory to Council by May.
Department of Housing, Land & Management Director Kevin Auger told the Council the department's FY27 budget reflects a shift of some operating expenses into CIP and several newly funded positions resulting from a recent reorganization. Auger said DHLM manages about 60 commercial leases (generating roughly $2 million annually via Budget & Fiscal Services), is administering a $2 million Federal Transit Administration grant for Iwilei planning and is pursuing additional federal/congressionally directed funds for Chinatown projects.
Auger said the department is actively assembling a "one water" and multiagency team (Board of Water Supply, DFM, DPP, DHLM and others) to address Iwilei's flood risk, utilities and redevelopment sequencing after updated FEMA maps. He described the Iwilei master plan as an opportunity to reconcile flood-mitigation, utility upgrades and land-readiness strategies that would support up to roughly 3,000 housing units in the station-area redevelopment if sequenced and funded appropriately.
On affordable housing funding, Auger provided a high-level account of available funds: across appropriations, rollovers and forward allocations DHLM described tens of millions of dollars available for affordable-housing and natural-lands purposes (figures discussed in committee totaled in the tens of millions with an approximate total available in the natural-lands/clean-water fund quoted as about "$70 million"). Auger said the department aims to keep a modest "war chest" to be responsive to opportunities while using CIP and predevelopment agreements to make city land curb-ready for affordable development.
Councilmembers pressed several operational questions: Vice Chair Dos Santos-Tam asked where lease revenue appears (BFS manages the receipts, DHLM said) and urged analysis of vacant commercial space that could be leased to generate current revenue. Auger acknowledged DHLM's leases flow through BFS and said DHLM is auditing parcels and negotiating preferred partners for several city sites, and that he will notify neighborhood boards and affected Council offices when partner selections are made.
Next steps: DHLM committed to deliver the city-owned property inventory and mapping to Council (the chief data officer earlier committed to a May delivery) and to share the Iwilei master-plan briefings and project sequencing. Auger also said DHLM was developing predevelopment agreement terms to let the city inject liquidity (from the Affordable Housing Fund) to pay for predevelopment work while protecting taxpayer-funded deliverables if development stalls.
