Cries over ‘poor door’ ignore worse segregation in affordable housing

The reality is that affordable housing produced by developers under city and state requirements is governed by loose standards that often result in separate and unequal residences for those with low or moderate incomes.

In fact, many developers of market-priced housing on Oʻahu have segregated their required affordable residences far more than the ProsPac project at Keʻeaumoku and Makaloa streets.

Affordable homes have been produced in different buildings, neighborhoods and ZIP codes—and sometimes years after the associated market-priced homes were built.

City and state agencies have made improvements bringing more parity to the situation, yet disparities still exist.

Victor Geminiani, co-director of the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, said the city and state need to improve standards.

“We don’t really have a clear understanding of what we’re expecting developers to do,” he said in an interview.

In Geminiani’s view, separate entrances at ProsPac Tower were bad. But he gives developer ProsPac Holdings Group credit for integrating affordable rentals in the same building, which is more than other developers have done.