Hawaii Developer Under Fire For Segregated Poor Door For Renters

[Rollo]

Source: Huffington Post

HONOLULU ― A real estate developer in Hawaii is under scrutiny for its plans to build a residential high-rise that has two separate entrances: One for high-income residents and another for low-income earners.

...

The high-rise will include 78 affordable rental units for people earning 80 percent or less of the area median income, as required by Honolulu’s affordable housing strategy. The other 351 units will be market-priced condominiums. If things go as ProsPac plans, the units will be separated with two entrances.

...

The condo owners will be able to enjoy the property’s pool, cabanas, dog park, fitness center and theater, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The renters will be barred from using those amenities.

...

“This approach is a response to international best practices in space management and forward thinking about the kind of urban density that will work best for transit-oriented community planning.”


Read more: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/poor-door-planned-for-hawaii-high-rise_us_5a234729e4b03c44072e06ee?section=us_business

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The best part is the last paragraph, which is a statement by the developer's assistant director attempting to justify the segregation.

George Orwell couldn't have put it better.

Why don't they just refer to the affordable units as "slave quarters"???

[BumRushDaShow]

1. "international best practices in space management"

Must be foreign-owned by someone who isn't aware of Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act.

But then again, the current occupant of the Oval Office and his father violated that many times in the '70s and later!

[pandr32]

2. First Class and Steerage, but in a building

Like on the Titanic--steerage passengers were kept out of sight from the higher class passengers. They were not allowed on the upper decks, beautiful dining rooms, exercise rooms or lounges, and were barred from the grand entrance staircase. They went in the ship in a lower entrance.
We have gone well past separating people by ethnicity and skin color and are heading back to full Charles Dickens mode class distinctions.

[dalton99a]

4. +1

[Beakybird]

3. I don't see it as that bad

What is a crime is the poor income distribution in this country and lack of services. If they had a park district in the neighborhood with a free dog park, a fitness center, and a swimming pool, then it wouldn't be so dreary living next to these rich people who have it all at their fingertips.

Sadly, this development is good news in that normally the rich won't live within a kilometer of the poor in most of America.

[tazkcmo]

5. Yeah

That would make it great, especially on rainy days or at 3 a.m. when many of us get off work. Separate but equal is as un-American as it gets.

[Honeycombe8]

7. It's not "separate but equal," as I see it.

It's living in accordance with one's means. The alternate is...you can't afford to live there, so you won't be using ANY entrance.

The existence of the complex is dependent on the wealthy buying the condos, and that means it has to have the status of an expensive condo. If the rich don't buy there, the complex closes. And the poor ones, again, can't live there at all.

I would prefer to use the rich entrance, but I would accept it. There's no shame in acknowledging I'm low income and here only because the govt makes them accept me. I'd just be glad I get to live there.

Believe me, I spent many of my young years living in horrible apartments in unsafe areas. I would've loved to live in a nice place in a good location, even if I had to park out back and use the back entrance.

[Liberalagogo]

10. ...but I would accept it.

What a good little sheep you are!

[Honeycombe8]

14. I'm okay with not pretending to be rich, when I'm poor. I don't NEED to walk in the rich door.

I am confident and secure enough in my own worth, I guess, to walk in any door. It's not like I have to take out their trash.

I'm living in upscale digs for a fraction of the cost. I know a good deal when I hear it.

Maybe you've never been really poor like I have been. Or maybe you need to work on your self-esteem, so you don't need others to think you have more money than you do. It is okay to be a low income renter. It's also okay to drive an old car instead of a new one, to have a Honda Fit instead of a BMW.

[Honeycombe8]

6. I would actually live there as a renter.

If it gets me a nice apt. in a great location that I otherwise could not afford, I'd be totally okay with it. I understand. The rich ones have a separate entrance so that the existence of the "poor" ones don't interfere with the status of the complex...or the rich ones won't buy there.

I'd prefer to use the rich entrance, but it's enough I get one of the nice apartments in a great location.

Owners having use of amenities that renters do not seems normal to me; I'd think this is common throughout the country. They're not owners. They aren't paying what the owners are paying. If the pool gets damaged, a renter can move away from the problem, while the owners have to pay to fix it.

This is as much a distinction of owner vs. renter, as it is income. I've been a condo owner and an apt renter. There is a big difference.

[ToxMarz]

8. I don't see a problem

You get what you pay for. All those amenities are paid for buy the owners maintenance fees. Low income renters can't afford them so why should the owners subsidize them. They are already being subsidized by the developer just by making those units available. Income is not a protected class, no one has to live there if they don't like it.

[Rollo]

9. Plus the rich owners have a convenient source of wage slave labor nearby...

The low income tenants can just work for the rich, cleaning up their messes, breast feeding their kids, cooking their meals, ironing their sheets, etc...

Think of all the money the poor wage slaves will save - they won't have to take the subway to work. Just a flight of stairs down, a walk around to the grand front entrance, and a nice elevator ride up to the rich people's side. Unless, of course, there's a service elevator - they'll probably have to take that.

Who didn't enjoy the class discrimination of Upstairs Downstairs?

[Lucky Luciano]

11. Nothing wrong with this.

Beats the shit out of living in the projects.

[MrScorpio]

12. Trump once announced that he was going to do the exact same thing in NYC

http://www.freewoodpost.com/2014/07/23/trump-build-new-luxury-apartments-back-alley-entrance-poor/

[left-of-center2012]

13. From the link ...

"New York blocked the entrances by taking tax breaks away from affordable housing developers who separate residents by income in their projects."

[Solly Mack]

15. Wow