Maui Is Reconsidering What Constitutes ‘Affordable’ When It Comes To Housing … Even if families qualify for loans, monthly costs can be so high that they struggle to hold on to their homes in the long term.
Maui County’s housing crisis is so acute that even homes deemed “affordable” are often out of families’ financial reach, spurring a group of elected officials to look into ways to change how the government decides sales prices.
The rule of thumb is that families should spend no more than 30% of their total income on housing, including utilities, so that they have enough money leftover to at least cover basic necessities like groceries, health care and transportation. But on Maui, it’s not uncommon for families to spend far more than that, even when they’re living in homes where sales prices are set by the county and sometimes subsidized by taxpayer dollars.
