Pacific Business News: EAH Housing's Leadership in Hawaiʻi's Affordable Housing Push
October 29, 2025
Pacific Business News recently featured EAH Housing in a cover story about Hawaiʻi's affordable housing pipeline. The article highlighted the organization's leadership in addressing the state's housing shortage despite ongoing economic and political challenges.
The article "Riding the Housing Pipeline" examines how developers are trying to meet rising demand. In 2025, Hawaiʻi is expected to see a record 35 affordable housing project applications. EAH Housing was highlighted for its progress, especially with the Kahului Civic Center Residential project (Kaiahale o Kahiluhilu) on Maui. This 303-unit affordable housing development is set to start construction in 2027 and finish in 2029.
The article also noted that the City and County of Honolulu chose EAH Housing to redevelop 436 Ena Road in Waikīkī into long-term affordable housing.
Regional Vice President Karen Seddon discussed new federal funding changes that could help create 9,000 more affordable units in Hawaiʻi over the next 10 years. She also pointed out the challenges: "It will be a help to make it so that the bonds will stretch over additional projects, but that means that each project has to figure out how to come up with additional gap money."
The story also explained that Hawaiʻi needs 64,490 more housing units by 2027 to meet demand, but only about 4,000 units are built each year.
"We're constantly putting more and more in the pipeline," Seddon told Pacific Business News. "We're true believers. We know there's a need, we know that we need to keep working on it, and that's our mission. It is to keep putting affordable housing out."
