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Today, Maui and the other neighbor islands have the largest income vs. housing cost disparity in the country. Most of Maui’s families cannot afford to buy even the most modest, simple home for their family anymore, even if they are working professional or semi-professional jobs or working two jobs. I believe we can build housing that our families can afford, and as a Catholic Priest, I know we have an obligation to do so.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops believes that decent, safe and affordable housing is a human right, and most denominations agree.  Today on Maui, we consider ourselves lucky if we can afford our mortgage or our rent, even when we work two jobs. And we feel unlucky when we cannot find anything we can afford, often putting our families into unsafe housing, doubling up or paying most of our income for housing so that there is nothing left for  healthy food, helping our children or saving for the future.

Lucky or unlucky is not the right question. Are we taking a courageous stand for our values? Are we speaking up for affordable housing for Maui’s families or have we accepted that the human rights and dignity of so many of our family, friends and neighbors are being violated every day by our failure to develop affordable housing for our people?

I know that all of us on Maui, from clergy and housing advocates to builders and developers, want to help ease our housing shortage. But if we are committed to the human rights and dignity of Maui’s families, we will need more than a desire for change.  We need to sit down together, stop the excuses, simplify the discussion and make good public policy that requires that with all of the beautiful luxury development on Maui, that there are homes for our people as well.

We are not starting from scratch; seven years ago, Maui County Council, like dozens of counties and cities across the country, passed a Workforce Housing Ordinance. This ordinance requires that developers building high-end developments also have to contribute to the development of homes for Maui’s workforce.

At a recent Maui County Council meeting, testifiers explained that building more “workforce housing” in Wailuku will bring down property values, cause the streets to be unsafe, and put small business owners at risk of being attacked when they open their shops in the morning. No one wants those things to happen, but I don’t think there is a clear understanding of how “workforce housing” works. Workforce Housing on Maui is built for families earning $60,000 to $106,000 a year. This means that a family of four must have two incomes equal to what fulltime teachers, firefighters, lifeguards, police officers, nurses, phlebotomists, and graphic designers make. Which of these people are we afraid are going to bring down our property values and cause our streets to be unsafe, the lifeguards or the nurses?

In addition to our Workforce Housing Ordinance, there is a small but important affordable development being built as part of the Kulamalu project upcountry. This project is being developed by the County of Maui and will include 56 rental units. Much of the infrastructure is already completed and construction is scheduled to begin this fall, providing a much needed model for quality affordable rental housing that can be duplicated in any planning district.

Now that our economy is coming back, I believe the Workforce Housing Ordinance will lead to more quality affordable housing for Maui’s working families. If we cannot build housing for our teachers, firefighters and nurses, what chance do we have of building housing for our less fortunate families?

I am not afraid of living near teachers, nurses or lifeguards, but I am afraid that they won’t have anywhere to live.  I am afraid for the future of our island and our families if we do not, each of us take seriously our obligation to stop making excuses and find a way to build the housing our families need.