Hawaii Island nonprofit receives $2.5M Bezos grant for housing

Nov 22, 2024 | Blog, In the News

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Hope Services Hawaii plans to use a $2.5 million grant from Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez for master leasing efforts and to acquire and develop new housing units on Hawaii Island.

By Stephanie Salmons – Reporter, Pacific Business News

 

Hope Services Hawaii this week received a $2.5 million grant from Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez through the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, and recently acquired a 23.4-acre property in Mountain View, where the Hawaii Island homeless services provider hopes to build nearly four dozen new units of affordable housing.

The $2.5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund builds on a $2.75 million grant Hope Services received from the fund in 2019.

“It’s an affirmation of the work our team does every day to help our local families off the street and into housing,” CEO Brandee Menino told Pacific Business News in an email. “I couldn’t be prouder of my colleagues, and I’m grateful to the Day 1 Families Fund for recognizing their work.”

Menino said Hope Services will use the grant money for master leasing efforts and to acquire and develop new housing units.

The nonprofit used grant funding to acquire the property at 17-649 Ala Loop. just off Highway 11 in Mountain View, for approximately $800,000 on July 31, Menino told Pacific Business News in an email.

“We hope to build a ‘village of hope,’ similar to the one we built in Pahoa,” Menino said. “In Pahoa, we built 32 housing units [and] a resource center. So we are hoping we will be able to build 45 units.”

Menino said Honolulu-based WhiteSpace Architects, which is donating its services, is helping to develop a master plan.

“Once that is complete, we will have a better idea of what our timeline and cost projection will be,” she said, noting that Hope Services has secured “philanthropic funding” for pre-development work like architectural and engineering services.

“We will need to raise additional funding for construction,” Menino said. “We have applied for other funding, but none yet secured.” 

ceo-brandee-menino

Brandee Menino is the CEO of Hope Services Hawaii.

Menino said the nonprofit is exploring “all opportunities to increase housing inventory,” such as master leasing; acquisition, including opening escrow on an apartment building in Kailua-Kona; and development of more housing units.

Hope Services is in the pre-development stage for the third phase of its Sacred Heart Affordable Housing Project in Pahoa, which will be for families, she said.

The need for affordable housing in East Hawaii, and the Puna District in particular, “is the same in virtually every community,” Menino said.
“We need housing for local people that is close to where they work and where their kids go to school, that has accessible transportation and nearby grocery stores or farmers markets, and that is large enough for each family member to have adequate space and allows them to keep their pets,” she said. “We need housing where kupuna can easily get to doctor’s appointments and see their friends and participate in community activities, and where kids are safe. We need housing where families feel confident that they will still be able to afford their home in a year.”
In rural Puna, one of the fastest growing districts in Hawaii, Menino said transportation, internet access and cell coverage as well proximity to lava and natural disaster zones are also “particularly relevant” considerations.