Honolulu City Council Approves Affordable Housing Deal

honolulu-politics:

Despite what Honolulu City Council members described as serious concerns over the bidding process that accompanied the sale of 12 affordable housing complexes to a private developer, they voted to move forward with the deal anyway.

Council members Tom Berg and Romy Cachola were the only two to vote against the $142 million deal. Council Chair Ernie Martin and members Stanley Chang, Ann Kobayashi and Nestor Garcia indicated they had reservations before voting “yes.”

Martin noted that he was disappointed in Mayor Peter Carlisle and his administration for sending the council a deal that had some many questions swirling around it.

He also said Carlisle should have attended the meeting himself to offer it to the council since it was the “jewel” of his administration.

—Nick Grube