An Affordable Solution?

By Dan Collins

Peter Savio, who touts himself as Hawai‘i’s largest affordable housing developer, thinks housing has become too darned expensive. With the median home price in Maui County hovering just over a million dollars, and 30 to 40 percent of the population living paycheck to paycheck, it’s tough to argue he’s wrong.

“When we say ‘affordable’ in this state it has no relationship with what we can afford,” said Savio. “Home prices are based on the open market, including mainland and foreign buyers. …Our market has nothing to do with local wages. It’s all driven by outside buyers.”

It’s inevitable that land values would eventually exceed local income levels in a world-renowned tourist destination with a limited amount of buildable land and strong local resistance to overdevelopment.

“This is a serious problem,” said Savio. And he thinks we can solve it, maybe in the next decade, if we follow his plan.

Savio’s strategy is simple. Give me what I want, don’t ask for anything in return, and I will deliver you affordable housing units. Lots of them. What does he want? Concessions from the county that allow him to build more units for less money.

Savio wants to see his projects approved quickly, which would require an about-face in a place where