Billionaire opens mansions to homeless

[deadparrot]

Source: Associated Press

HONOLULU - Dorie-Ann Kahale and her five daughters moved from a homeless shelter to a mansion Thursday, courtesy of a Japanese real estate mogul who is handing over eight of his multimillion-dollar homes to low-income Native Hawaiian families.

Tears spilled down Kahale's cheeks as she accepted from billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto the key to a white, columned house with a circular driveway, a stone staircase and a deep porcelain bathtub. Her family will live there rent-free, but must pay utility bills.

"I'm shocked. I'm overwhelmed," Kahale said. "From the little box we had to what we have today."

Kawamoto, whose own eyes started welling up as Kahale cried, handed over two other homes Thursday to homeless or low-income families.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070323/ap_on_re_us/homeless_mansions

[Iwasthere]

1. Love this story

More of this !

[sanskritwarrior]

4. I am currently stationed in Hawaii

this guy is a jerk......He buys properties rents them out extra low doesn't take care of them and then when property values drop he buys even more properties. Many people in Hawaii despise this guy......

Sure he is helping Native Hawaiians and deservedly so, but he has another motive......Go to the Honolulu advertiser message boards long term island residents hate the guy.......

[Gormy Cuss]

14. This is the same guy who evicted entire subdivisions in California

30 day notice, as required by law, but to several hundred tenants at the same time. The governor's office intervened because of the stress it would put on local rental markets.

He'll be dumping the Hawaiians within a few years too, no doubt. And your assertion about him buying when the adjoining property values drop may be the reason he said this in the article:

"The people who don't want to live near Hawaiians should move," Kawamoto said.

[Judi Lynn]

18. Amazing, isn't it? A little image rehabilitation, cheap at twice the price.

I saw this article and read only part way, was close to posting it until I ran into the material you saw.

Clearly he knows his public image has been beyond contempt and in desperate need of a miracle. What a shame.

What he IS "good" at is making money for himself in a hurry, and to hell with the other guy. He's gotta be a Republican.

[Iwasthere]

2. Does anyone remember the guy that owned the software biz in Ca...

And he gave hundreds of thousands of dollars, each in some cases (and a share share of the biz) to all its employess a few years back? I beleieve he was japanese.

[JuniperLea]

6. The Japanese culture is beautiful in that regard

In Japan, you can spend time helping the elderly and your time will be counted toward someone else giving their time to you when you are in the same position. Good idea!

[JuniperLea]

3. Saw this on the morning news!

What a great way to start the day!

It was thoughtfull of him to drop the rent to $0... paying utilities in those places will be enough.

[ThomCat]

5. This is a very nice gesture that is a godsend to those families.

And it certainly points out the racism of some of those neighbors.

I don't know that this will do much to really impact the problem of homelessness. I don't know if this will even begin to balance the negative impact that Kawamoto has had with all the people he's evicted.
:shrug:

[sanskritwarrior]

7. From the Honolulu advertiser

Previously, Kawamoto investments have stirred controversy in other O'ahu neighborhoods after he bought homes mostly in East and Windward O'ahu in the late 1980s.

Kawamoto rented his property often for well below market value, but did little to maintain or improve the homes. In some cases, neighbors complained that homes in disrepair hurt their property values.

Kawamoto claimed that property managers didn't inform him of the conditions of his property. Property managers claimed Kawamoto was informed and refused to authorize repairs.

In 2002, Kawamoto announced he would sell all his roughly 160 O'ahu homes, creating public concern over loss of so many rentals. Kawamoto sold 60 homes quickly, and gradually sold most of the rest, after making repairs or renovations to some.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070323/NEWS/703230365/1001

It's awesome that he is helping the native hawaiians, as a person of color I respect him for that, but if his track record remains constant he is doing this for hiw own gain.......

Also: as someone on the chat board mentioned how are these people going to pay the taxes..........

Edit again: One more thing why didn't this guy buy some land build condos and then do the same thing. He paid 15 million for these 4 properties, to help 4 families, why not spend that money to build condos for 200 people. The homeless situation in Waianae is appalling........

[caligirl]

20. I recall this guy now. We were living in kailua in the early 80's to 1990.

People were outraged at what this guy was doing. Running around with breifcases full of cash and driving up real estate prices. it sent many buyers from the Kahala side to the Ksailua Lanikai area. He was hated then for sure.

[Auntie Bush]

8. What a wonderful thing to do! What goes around comes around!

He's going to have some good luck coming hos way. George should try that...maybe he's get some much needed luck. Maybe it would bail him out of a few years of hell. (Eternity minus 10 years ought to do it.)

[Bobbieo]

9. As a person living on a shoestring budget -

What is the average cost of utilities over there on a mansion? Who is paying for the food? Is this a blessing or a curse?

[Mike Daniels]

24. Maybe he's trying to avoid the bad karma he built up

by evicting people over the years. Too many questions remain to judge this as anything more than a cheap PR stunt.

[Javaman]

10. The question is: do these people have to pay the property tax?

And in the fine print of the contract (of course there is a contract) does it say he can kick them out at any time?

And do these people have to pay the no doubt astronomically high utilities for the mansion?

if everything, EVERYTHING is free and clear, great, but this is the same guy that kicked out a bunch of people a few months before from other properties he owns so he could raise the rents.

Generally, if it's too good to be true, it usually is.

[sanskritwarrior]

11. The local news

says the tenants can be asked to leave if they damage the homes in any way.

I live here, this guy is not well liked by long time island residents. He drops rents to nothing and lets the properties go to hell, then when the property values around him drop he buys up those properties refurbishes them and then sells them for astronmical amounts........It's sad really.

[Broadslidin]

12. Eventually, our 'specie' will be returning to Lil Grass Huts anyway...!

With Imperial Empire U.S. military invasion forces
occupying some 134 sovereign nations,
protecting corporation interests,

Has crude oil production Peaked Yet....?

[DanWithAngel]

13. maybe it is just me

but would not a few million spent on housing and care not help more needy people
than a few glorious moments widely publicized?.

[youngdem]

15. This is a ploy dressed up as a Good Samaritan action, IMO

I have seen this first hand during real estate transactions. For example, in Florida someone I know sold a condo to a developer who wanted to buy the controlling interest in the old condo community to tear it down and build a large beachfront tower. Thing was, no one else in the small building would sell. So, the 'Good Samaritan' offered his units for free to drug users and street people. The remaining sellers bailed quickly after their neighborhood went to shit, and the developer won.

I suspect a similar tactic here, although it is just a suspicion. I suspect he may be driving down values in an area in which he has an interest so he can buy it up and develop it. In the meantime, he gets to deduct the cost of owning these properties (at least in large part) because their use is being donated.

[keopeli]

16. I work in Hawaii and this is a sham.

Putting 3 homeless familes (out of thousands of applicants) into three mansions in the ritzy Kahala neighborhood is just insane. He told them they would have to pay utilities. Can you imagine the utility bill on a mansion? Plus, the properties come with deed restrictions about care for the property. Imagine the time and money involved in caring for these properties.

This man drove property prices through the roof in the early 90s with wild speculation. I have no doubts he is using this as a tax write off.

So, instead of donating millions to the homeless, he is letting three families live in Kahala mansions. Of course, I'm happy for the 3 families and I hope that they can manage to pay the bills and care for the property. But, accolades for this Japanese mogul are not appropriate in my opinions.

Peace

[PassingFair]

17. God "dropped something out of the skies"

:puke:

They must be so "worthy"

"We prayed so hard and cried so much for God to drop something from the skies, and he did," Worley said. "And he did, he really, really did."

[aquart]

19. And the utility bills will be how much?

[Nikia]

21. Luckily Hawaiians don't suffer in paying high winter heating bills

I imagine electricity for the central air would be expensive if the family wanted to keep cool.
We moved into a house over twice as big as our duplex though and electricity in the non cooling months has not really been more expensive than in our duplex. We're not vacuuming every day though nor keeping on lights in parts of the house that we are not in, of course.

[JerseygirlCT]

22. That's SO cool! nt

[sanskritwarrior]

23. If you lived here in hawaii

and knew what this guys has done in the past, the last thing you would say is that this is cool.......

[Zhade]

25. Nice idea, but could more homeless have been served by selling the house...

...and buying more less expensive ones?

Not knocking the guy, just wondering.