Our Approach

The House Maui Initiative’s mission is to create a sustainable housing system that generates and keeps homes affordable for our kamaʻāina, enhances natural and cultural resources, and enriches our quality of life. We are working to enable access to housing for Maui county families through three main approaches: align resources, educate and empower, and remake systems.

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Align Resources

Together, we are:

  • Supporting coordination among actors within the housing ecosystem.
  • Working to align federal, state, and county resources to create infrastructure that supports housing affordability.
  • Collaborating with financial institutions to increase access to capital.
  • Directing philanthropic funds to organizations that support housing affordability.
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Educate & Empower

Together, we are:

  • Influencing public opinion toward perspectives and preferences that support housing affordability.
  • Increasing the capacity of residents to realize their housing goals through knowledge and financial resources.
  • Increasing the capacity of housing counseling providers to enable residents to realize their housing goals.
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Remake Systems

Together, we are:

  • Collaborating with government, builders, financiers, cultural and environmental groups, and other residents to design and implement policies that support housing affordability.
  • Partnering with nonprofits to engage their constituencies in advocacy for decisions that support housing affordability.

While affordable housing is a statewide issue, Maui is at the epicenter of the crisis. It’s going to take intentional collaboration with residents, nonprofits, the private sector, local and state government to bring about real change. We believe that if we work together, we can solve this crisis and generations of kama‘āina can continue to call Maui home. View a recording of our House Maui webinar where we dive into our three main approaches and share our progress made to date.

House Maui and the CHANGE Framework

Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF) is focused on rewiring the systems that are driving long-term systemic inequities across the state. Each of the six letters of The CHANGE Framework represents a sector, or area, that affects our community and its ability to thrive—from our economy to education. HCF recognizes that the House Maui initiative aligns with the Framework’s Community and Economy sector, and Housing Affordability and Cost of Living sub-sector. The aim is to address the current situation statewide that 56% of renters and 40% of homeowners are burdened by housing costs.