Real Estate – Evening Report

Anger in Hawai’i over threat of land grabs after wildfire disaster

Asia Pacific Report — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 23:17:54 +0000

By Finau Fonua, RNZ Pacific journalist

Fears are rife in Hawai’i of predatory land buying after the recent wildfires have left many locals homeless and in dire financial straits.

The wildfires incinerated the town of Lāhainā, destroying 2200 homes and businesses and leaving hundreds unaccounted for. At least 114 people are confirmed dead.

The disaster has shed light on Hawai’i’s housing crisis which has prompted many to leave the state for the US mainland.

According to Hawai’i’s Senate Housing Committee, an average of 14,000 Hawai’ians leave the state every year. The state also has one of the highest homeless rates in the country — in 2022, close to 6000 people experienced homelessness.

Hawai’i — a state notorious for high mortgage rates and rent — was already in a housing crisis before the disaster occurred. In fact, it was only last month that Hawai’i’s Governor Josh Green declared a housing emergency — announcing plans to build 50,000 homes before 2025.

“Homeowners have been reached out to by developers and realtors offering to buy their land…and this is disgusting and we just want to let people around the world to know that Lahaina is not for sale,” Maui community leader Tiare Lawrence told US media.

Lawrence accused out-of-state developers of taking advantage of the disaster, by buying up multi-generational lands from residents forced into financial desperation by the wildfires.

Hawai’i’s numerous luxury Hotels have been blamed for pushing up property costs. Image: RNZ Pacific/Finau Fonua

Lāhainā evacuee John Crewe told RNZ Pacific local inter-generational property owners were already struggling to keep up with costs before the wildfires destroyed their homes.

“People feel that they will be forced to sell out because they’re desperate, and then that will mean there is no place for them to return to,” said Crewe.

“Certain people may try to take advantage of the disaster to gain more real estate because it’s a vacation destination, people like to buy properties for vacation and that drives up the cost of everything.

“This is something that should have been addressed long ago.”

In response to the public concerns, Hawai’i’s Governor Josh Green announced he had organised attorneys to assist local landowners.

“I’ve asked my attorney to watch out for predatory practices,” Green said last week.

“We’ll also be raising incredible amount of resources to protect us financially so that none of that land falls into anyone else’s hands,” he added.

The governor even suggested the state government would look to acquire the land in devastated parts of Maui.

That comment caused a social media backlash from critics who accuse the administration of protecting the interests of lucrative hotels and tourism developers — blamed by many for making the Hawai’i’s property markets so expensive.

“Some people have taken out of context a comment I made about purchasing land — that is to protect it, to protect if for local people so that it is not stolen by people on the mainland,” said Green.

“This is not about the government getting land, this is the people’s land and the people will decide what to do with Lāhainā.”

Hawai’i Governor Josh Green poses after signing the Housing Emergency Proclamation last month. Image: Office of Hawaii Governor Josh Green

But many remain doubtful. In the days following the disaster, thousands of Lāhainā evacuees were forced to live in gymnasiums, churches, community shelters and their cars while Maui’s many hotels and resorts remained open to tourists.

Governor Green did announce that he had arranged with hotels for more than 500 rooms to be made available for evacuees to use.

Lāhainā evacuee and Native Hawai’ian Kanani Higbee told RNZ Pacific she had no choice but to leave Hawai’i for another state where the costs of living were cheaper.

John Crewe said he prayed the community which had existed for generations in Hawaii’s historical city would remain intact.

“People might have the tendency to leave the island and go somewhere else. We should build it so that people will come back and make Lāhainā a vibrant society and not just a tourist destination,” he said.

According to Hawai’i’s Senate Housing Committee, one resident emigrates from Hawai’i every 36 minutes.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji police detain 3 NZ journalists investigating Chinese developer

Pacific Media Centre — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 23:01:32 +0000

Malolo reef damage in Fiji … target of prosecution of Fiji government, say local media reports. Image: FBC News

By RNZ News

Three New Zealand journalists were detained by Fijian police in Suva last night after trying to interview a controversial Chinese resort developer.

Newsroom co-editor Mark Jennings, investigations editor Melanie Reid and cameraman Hayden Aull were held overnight at the main Suva police station after developer Freesoul Real Estate accused them of criminal trespass.

The journalists had visited Freesoul’s Suva offices seeking an interview but been told to leave.

LISTEN TO MORNING REPORT

Newsroom co-editor Mark Jennings and investigative journalist Melanie Reid … detained over probe of accused Chinese property developer. Image: RNZ File

Hours later, while they interviewed a lawyer acting for villagers of the damaged Malolo Island, Fijian police located their rental car and arrived and escorted them to the police station for questioning.

-Partners-

Newsroom co-editor Tim Murphy told RNZ’s Morning Report the journalists were looking at the environmental damage perpetrated by Freesoul at the island of Malolo.

“They went across to Suva to get feedback – or comment at least – from the developer and were told to leave. Several hours later, police pursued them to a lawyer’s office and took them to the jail cells.”

Murphy said Freesoul is claiming there was a criminal trespass and were making a statement with the arrest, but he was not sure why.

‘Wider power’
“It’s all tied up in the wider power of Freesoul in Fiji,” he said.

“Our guys would have talked to them openly and would’ve gone back there this morning to talk to them but instead were put in the cells and made to stew overnight.”

The group have a criminal lawyer representing them in Fiji and have engaged the New Zealand High Commission to take an interest in what’s happening.

Under Fijian law, they can be held for up to 48 hours without charge.

FBC News reports from Suva that on February 8, Environment Minister Dr Mahendra Reddy confirmed that the resort under construction on Malolo Island in Fiji’s Mamanuca Group had violated the terms of its development as clearly outlined by the Department of Environment.

The ministry is pursuing prosecution of Freesoul Real Estate Development (Fiji) Ptd Ltd.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Is KiwiBuild becoming KiwiSpeculator?

Bryce Edwards — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 05:13:32 +0000

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Is KiwiBuild becoming KiwiSpeculator? [caption id="attachment_18719" align="aligncenter" width="619"] Kiwibuild homes.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_13635" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption] When David Shearer proposed getting the state into the housing market and building and selling properties, his advisers came up with an excellent name for the scheme. KiwiBuild was meant to imply the same values and credibility of Jim Anderton’s KiwiBank. And various other Helen Clark-era Labour projects were given the same sort of nomenclature, such as KiwiSaver and KiwiRail. As the faults in the KiwiBuild scheme are ever more apparent, Labour’s flagship housing project has attracted parodying versions of the name – including KiwiFarce, KiwiFail and KiwiGate. Surely the most apt, however, is KiwiSpeculator – because it’s becoming clearer that the scheme is going to benefit a select few lucky ballot-winners who stand to make significant capital gains through buying the properties at below-market rates. The latest KiwiBuild development merely confirms this pro-speculator reputation. Newshub’s Jenna Lynch reported on Wednesday night that the Government has made yet another change to the scheme, which makes the deal even better for KiwiBuild buyers who might want to quickly onsell their houses for big gains – see: Housing Minister’s backdown on penalties for KiwiBuild property flippers. Here are the details: “Phil Twyford has secretly backed down on penalties for KiwiBuild buyers who sell up. When Labour announced the policy in 2016, its plan to stop buyers reaping windfall gains was they must not on-sell their home for five years – or else they had to hand all the money they made to the Government. That’s now changed to if buyers sell within three years, they must give up 30 percent of their profit.” And the same penalty applies to those that get permission to sell, and those that don’t but get caught. Opposition politicians and commentators are aghast. Here’s what Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking had to say: “So if you buy a house in Papakura, and the average price in Papakura rises from $569,000 to $700,000, so you make $131,000 in profit, once upon a time you needed to give that to the government, but now you only need to give 30 percent. So you would make more than $90,000. The government is essentially handing out $90,000 to the graduate doctors, and the marketing executives. The middle-class New Zealanders are looking at massive payouts on us, the taxpayer” – see: Kiwibuild scandal just gets bigger and bigger. It’s likely that the watering-down of the penalties has been forced on the Government by banks. Previously it was reported that mortgage lenders had complained to the Government about the stipulation that capital gains would go back to the state if the properly was sold within three years, because that meant the banks would be taking a larger risk and it would restrict their ability to deal with defaults. Another name change has been suggested for the scheme: KiwiAirBnb, because the rules have also now changed to make it easier for the new owners to rent KiwiBuild properties out. Previously owners were to be penalised if they did this, with the Government taking such proceeds off the landlords. But the new deal is that only 30% of that money would be taken, and that’s only if they get caught during the first three years of ownership – see Jenna Lynch’s ‘Is this Kiwi Airbnb?’: National slams Govt over KiwiBuild renting penalty. The consensus builds against KiwiBuild Yesterday the Otago Daily Times published an editorial that warns the Government’s main housing scheme – and indeed, “one of Labour’s primary policies” – is gathering a perception that it is something other than what was promised: “It was sold as a helping hand to those locked out of the housing market as well as a means to scale up housing supply and do so rapidly. The perception of it at the moment is very different” – see: Cracks appear in KiwiBuild. The first problem is that the scheme now looks like it’s “a lottery for yo pros (young professionals) who might be able to buy houses even in expensive places such as Auckland and Queenstown Lakes anyway”. The vast majority of those needing a house are immediately cut out because the houses are “expensive” and “It is also necessary to have loan financing in place before entering the ballot.” Second, KiwiBuild could be “seen as simply rebranding houses that would be built anyway”, and therefore “just spin” by the Government. Third, “It will be detrimental, too, if the view KiwiBuild is a useful hand-up for developers through guaranteed sales becomes the norm.” It’s not surprising, therefore, that the National Party’s eyes are starting to light up when Labour says the Government’s re-election will depend on the success of KiwiBuild. The NBR’s Brent Edwards reports that “National Party leader Simon Bridges believes the government’s KiwiBuild policy can help National win the next election” – see: KiwiBuild an election winner for Nats, Bridges says (paywalled). Bridges says KiwiBuild has “been dysfunctional and shambolic. It’s been more PR than reality.” He claims that large developers have told him that they’re reluctant to be involved: “The word some of them used, certainly one of them used, was ghettos and they don’t want to be part of that.” A PR disaster or triumph? The Listener’s Jane Clifton has written this week about How KiwiBuild turned into a PR disaster. Essentially the problem is that the Government has decided to help out failing property developers by rebranding their houses as KiwiBuild: “New-build supply in Auckland’s bonkers housing market has been stalling because some developments have fallen over. The Government, rightly thinking “waste not, want not”, took over some projects that happened to be at the upper-midpoint of the market, and has presented the early fruits of this as part of KiwiBuild. This has been hopelessly confusing. Housing Minister Phil Twyford’s bombast has helped stoke the impression that KiwiBuild was all about low-income battlers and starter homes, when some of the projects are a bit flasher than that.” It’s been a big PR mistake, Clifton says: “It would have saved a lot of misunderstanding and unpleasantness had the Government shelved the title KiwiBuild and called that particular avenue of its housing policy DeveloperRescue. This PR debacle is what happens when politicians get addicted to photo ops while boasting and swaggering under hard-hats on building sites.” Such house-building PR is nothing new according to Liam Hehir, who points to a long history of political leaders attempting to “pull the wool” over people’s eyes with fake or dubious housing construction. His prime example is the infamous fake “Potemkin villages” constructed in 1789 in the Crimea, which became the model utilised by leaders from Stalin’s Russia to North Korea today – see: Housing scheme’s morale-boosting propaganda doesn’t tackle crisis. He warns where this type of lottery scheme could go: “In the worst-case scenario, the programme could end up like the one run by Hugo Chavez, the late president of Venezuela, around 2012. When state socialism – somehow – failed to secure warm and adequate housing in the country, his government took to awarding new apartments to people from the slums by lottery. The whole thing was televised, with “El Commandante” handing over the keys to crying families. For the lucky few, it must have been life-changing. It made for great TV, but it wasn’t a solution to the tribulations of ordinary Venezuelans. They simply continued to suffer as their country slipped further and further behind.” Hehir concludes that there’s nothing necessarily wrong with “a bit of morale-boosting propaganda… but it probably needs to be executed with more competence”. In contrast, KiwiBuild should win awards, according former United Future leader Peter Dunne: “when the marketing awards are next given out Kiwibuild deserves first prize as a cunning plan, well marketed, but delivering very little and changing not very much” – see: Kiwibuild looks like one of Blackadder’s cunning plans. Dunne looks back to what was originally promised by Labour, and says it’s all changed. For example, in terms of what KiwiBuild was supposed to offer buyers, “no longer does ‘affordable’ mean $350-450,000, but $650,000.” Originally, he says, “The implication was unambiguous – Labour’s approach was going to be far more activist than National, and Kiwibuild would be Its primary policy to deal with homelessness and the housing crisis.” As a result, “in reality Kiwibuild is a very clever strategy of the government doing very little, but making it look like a lot, and all the while being able to milk many photo opportunities for Ministers as the still uncommon achievement of each house being completed happens. Meanwhile, the homeless Labour was so concerned about in the lead up to last year’s election remain homeless”. KiwiBuild needs to be bigger and better Perhaps the most interesting and surprising critiques of KiwiBuild have come from rightwing commentator Matthew Hooton, who suggests the KiwiBuild scheme needs to be big bigger and better. In his column on Kiwibuild last month, he strongly recommends to the Minister of Housing that he “rethinks his failing policy and commits to getting on with doing KiwiBuild properly” – see: KiwiBuild needs urgent rethink. Hooton’s complaint is not that the current scheme is “too socialist” or “interventionist” but that it’s not bold enough, and involves too much gimmicky tinkering. The column lays out his objections to the way KiwiBuild is currently operating, claiming it is going to be ineffective and will actually increase economic inequality, especially because it’s targeted at selling houses to the relatively wealthy, albeit through a lottery. Here’s Hooton’s key piece of advice to Phil Twyford, assuming he wants to continue with a state-led initiative: “He needs to accept he has wasted his first year and finally understand the magnitude of the KiwiBuild promise. It can only be delivered as the mass once-in-50-years public construction project Shearer’s original announcement envisaged. The Minister needs to forget about a few hundred houses here and there. He needs to lift his sights to imagine small cities being built from scratch to the south and north of Auckland, linked with Hamilton, Tauranga and Whangarei by ultra-fast rail. KiwiBuild must be transformed from the sort of limited initiative Wellington bureaucrats are comfortable with into something China consistently implements without much trouble.” For an update on this, see Hooton’s Friday column, KiwiBuild fiasco predicted right here. He criticises the PR-heavy approach being utilised at the moment: “Only a Government completely out of touch with the challenge it faces could have thought it was a good idea to proceed with last weekend’s ‘street party’ in Papakura, let alone allow Ardern to publicly compare herself with Michael Joseph Savage.” And like other critics, Hooton points to one of the buyers joking on Facebook that he stood to gain an instant $70k capital windfall. Finally, when defending KiwiBuild against criticisms from the left, the Government – and their defenders – keep pointing to state housing. Yet, sadly, the projected increase in state housing numbers is incredibly small – see my Newsroom column on this “fricken travesty”, and the need for a massive investment during a time of a severe crisis: Will state housing fix what KiwiBuild can’t?]]>