State awards first contract to build 100+ educator rentals in Mililani

HSTA leaders will help guide School Facilities Authority policy

News Release from HSTA, August 28, 2024

The State of Hawaiʻi School Facilities Authority (SFA) has awarded a contract to build and operate the state’s first workforce housing development at Mililani High School for teachers and other public school employees.

The contract was awarded to Pacific Housing Assistance Corporation (PHAC), a nonprofit housing initiative serving Hawaiʻi since its founding in 1980 with properties including low-income, senior, and special needs housing for 15 senior and family apartment properties.

According to PHAC’s best and final offer, the Mililani development will provide 65 one-bedroom and 43 two-bedroom affordable rental units for education employees.

Rents will be set at or below 120% of the area median income (AMI) for 65 years. According to the contract offer, 46 of the units would be for those making under 60% of the AMI, which currently is $58,000 for a single person. The other 63 units would be for those making less than 120% of the AMI, limited to those making about $100,000 a year.

PHAC said it plans to add “amenities designed to accommodate teacher needs and desires based on feedback received during focus group discussions with teachers” at the Mililani site.

The on-site amenities could include:

• collaboration space
• multi-purpose room
• green space
• fitness center
• on-site laundry
• bark park and laudramutt for dog bathing
• storage lockers
• storage racks for bikes and surfboards

In addition, PHAC plans to build a two-classroom daycare facility with a covered outdoor play area and dedicated parking.

PHAC said it is open to discuss the possibility of adding another level with 34 more residential units and a basement parking level.

The initial schedule calls for people to move into the building in December of 2028. The project is subject to various changes and delays, so the timeline is an estimate and could be pushed back.

School Facilities Authority Executive Director Riki Fujitani said, “With over 22,000 Department of Education employees, the need for workforce housing is significant. This project is an alternative way to provide modern housing facilities using public-private partnerships with minimal cost to taxpayers.”

HSTA VP appointed to School Facilities Authority

Gov. Josh Green recently appointed Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association Vice President Logan Okita to serve as one of five volunteer members on the School Facilities Authority, charged with the development, planning, and construction of public school capital improvement projects.

Okita, a teacher at Nimitz Elementary, attends her first SFA meeting next month and serves on the board until June 30, 2028.

“I’m looking forward to creating more opportunities for educator housing and also focusing on improving school facilities and the quality of our work environment,” Okita said, noting that the SFA is also responsible for constructing new school buildings.

“Housing is a huge barrier for recruitment and retention for the teacher workforce. We don’t have enough housing that’s affordable for a teacher on the newer end of the spectrum, so that lower end of the pay scale, and we don’t have housing that allows our teachers to save up enough to then buy something and so we’re not able to retain those educators who want to stay here, but they can’t afford to stay here,” Okita added.

Teachers also find themselves in a housing gap group, she said.

“While we don’t always make enough to cover the cost of living, especially if you’re a single teacher and maybe you have a child, or you’re just you’re a single teacher and you’re just starting out in the profession, you don’t make enough to cover all of the bills, plus pay rent or a mortgage, and yet you make too much to qualify for assistance, in many cases, to get affordable housing or get assistance in finding housing,” Okita said.

The effort to build educator housing “gives me hope for keeping teachers here and improving the quality of our workforce by making it so that we have one less burden to worry about,” Okita said.

HSTA executive director to help provide feedback on Mililani project

HSTA Executive Director Ann Mahi was recently appointed to serve on a steering committee for the Mililani workforce rentals, made up of various stakeholders, to receive information and provide input as the project develops.

“We want to be sure the needs of our teachers are going to be met in these housing developments,” Mahi said. “For example, we could ask for options such as a community area for our teachers, workroom area, and wellness areas in teacher housing that could also be shared with the community.”

HSTA President Osa Tui, Jr. said, “We really need to address teacher housing because it’s critical to make sure that we have qualified teachers in our classrooms for our keiki. And if education is a priority, then teacher housing needs to be a priority.”

Tui said the housing crunch creates ”a widespread issue” for many school administrators.

“They’ll hire someone and then be ready to start the school year, and then that person will disappear because they said, ‘Guess what? I couldn’t find a home between the time I took the job and between the start of the school year, and so I had to go back to the continent. I couldn’t take the job.’ And so that’s particularly a problem throughout the state,” said Tui.

“Ultimately, it’s all about the students. What can we do so that we can be here for our students to give them the best possible education that they deserve?” Tui added.

SFA is a collaboration of governor, lawmakers and HIDOE

The Hawaiʻi SFA’s mission is to improve public school facilities by providing Hawaiʻi students, educators, and communities with the learning environments they deserve.

It represents a collaboration among the governor, the Hawaiʻi State Legislature, and the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education to expedite the building and design of outstanding schools and school facilities by leveraging underused school lands.

The SFA was established by Act 72 (Session Laws of Hawaiʻi, 2020), and the following year, Act 217 (Session Laws of Hawaiʻi, 2021) was enacted to change the name of the agency to the School Facilities Authority and to clarify its powers and responsibilities. The SFA may acquire property, receive gifts and grants, and contract or partner with qualified parties to accomplish this objective. So far, $50 million has been appropriated to begin the work of building educator housing.

The SFA’s request for proposals for the Mililani project, published in December 2023, sought a developer to construct and operate a rental housing project offering below-market rentals to eligible teachers and education staff.

As of 2023, the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education had 51 affordable rental units that teachers at rural schools can live in, usually for limited periods of three to five years.