Revitalizing Mayor Wright Homes could cost $1 billion

Redeveloping Mayor Wright is cast as an example of transit-oriented development that delivers more low-income housing with better amenities while also integrating households with incomes from low to moderate and above.

About two-thirds of the 2,500 homes, or 1,650 homes, would be reserved for low- and moderate-income residents. The other 850 homes would be rented at market rates to offset development and maintenance costs.

Gavin Thornton of the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice said the mixed-income housing model is great.

“Concentrated poverty is a bad idea,” he said.

Thornton added that Mayor Wright, which was built 64 years ago, needs to be replaced. “The place is falling apart,” he said. “There’s a lot of potential for that property, and it definitely needs to be used to its fullest potential.”