Construction has begun on a 35-unit affordable rental complex in Wailuku, with Maui Mayor Richard Bissen joining community leaders and the project team for a groundbreaking ceremony at Kehalani Apartments. The development will offer one- to three-bedroom units reserved for households earning 60% of the area median income or less, with completion targeted for January 2028.
According to Maui Now, the project sits within the larger Kehalani master-planned community at the base of the West Maui Mountains, an area developer Dowling Company has been building out since 2013. Kehalani ultimately includes 2,400 homes, a 13-acre county park, an elementary school, and bike and pedestrian pathways, according to the same report. Dowling Company oversees the community's planning, entitlements, infrastructure, design and construction, and has selected Maryl Group Construction, Inc. as general contractor for the apartments.
“This project fills an urgent need for high-quality and attainable rental housing for Maui families,” Dowling Company's Jack Dowling said, according to Maui Now's account of the groundbreaking. Bissen echoed that framing, saying the project addresses the urgent need for housing within reach of local families, per the outlet's report.
Three Units Set Aside for Domestic Violence Survivors
Among the 35 units, three will be reserved for clients of the Women Helping Women Transitions Program, which helps survivors who are homeless or at risk of homelessness find and hold permanent housing. Women Helping Women is a Maui nonprofit serving victims of domestic violence and operates as the county's primary domestic violence service provider, running a 24-hour crisis shelter and delivering advocacy and transitional housing support across Maui and Molokaʻi, according to the Hawaiʻi State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The coalition notes that shelters like Women Helping Women's face ongoing challenges placing clients into permanent long-term housing because of high regional market rents.
“This partnership makes safe housing units available to Women Helping Women clients,” Sanoe Kaʻaihue said, per Maui Now's reporting. The complex will also include landscaped open space used as a community gathering area, with about one-third of the one-acre site set aside for that purpose.
Who Qualifies, and How Big the Shortfall Really Is
Under 2026 HUD and Hawaiʻi Housing Finance & Development Corporation guidelines for Maui County, the 60% area median income limit is set at $50,760 for a single person, $58,080 for a two-person household, and $72,540 for a four-person household, according to Hawaii Affordable Properties, Inc. Those ceilings define which working families can apply once leasing begins.
The need dwarfs the new supply. State housing data shows Maui County faces a backlog of more than 2,200 rental units needed specifically for households earning at or below 60% AMI, a shortage Hoodline previously reported has been worsened by post-fire displacement pushing more West Maui households into Central Maui's rental market. The pressure shows up on the streets, too: May's Point-in-Time count recorded 651 total homeless individuals countywide, with unsheltered homelessness jumping 40% year-over-year to 398 people as shelter capacity tightened.
Public Money Behind the Project
The financing behind Kehalani Apartments layers several public subsidies. The Hawaiʻi Housing Finance & Development Corporation awarded the project $1.8 million in annual federal 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits over 10 years plus $1.8 million in state tax credits over five years during its 2025 funding round. In February 2026, the Maui County Council approved a $10 million grant from the county's Affordable Housing Fund, amending its fiscal year 2024 budget to keep the project's state tax credit eligibility intact.
That fund is substantial: the Maui County Department of Housing projected $79.5 million in total available Affordable Housing Fund resources for fiscal year 2027, aimed at creating, acquiring, or rehabilitating roughly 752 affordable units islandwide. The 35 units at Kehalani represent a modest slice of that broader pipeline, but they add to Dowling Company's growing portfolio of delivered and underway affordable and workforce housing on Maui — including a 47-unit teacher housing project the company completed in Lahaina in April for Department of Education staff.
Part of a Larger Housing Push
New construction is only one prong of the county's strategy. Late last year, Maui County enacted Bill 9 to phase out roughly 7,000 short-term vacation rentals in apartment-zoned districts by 2029, a move Hoodline detailed in its report on the fiery council debate over new hotel zones, aimed at converting tourist accommodations back into long-term housing for local families.
Beyond the apartments themselves, the surrounding Kehalani community includes the 19-acre Kehalani Village Center commercial district, anchored by Foodland, Longs Drugs and financial institutions, along with Puʻu Kukui Elementary School, according to Dowling Company. It remains to be seen whether construction costs and supply chain conditions hold steady through the January 2028 completion date, or how quickly waitlists for the 60% AMI units will fill once leasing gets underway.
