West Sacramento, Calif. — This week, RCAC staff will join U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono and the nonprofit Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (HARC) to celebrate completion of 82 renovated or new historical  and affordable agricultural worker rental homes in Kunia Village on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

The ceremony will be held on August 31, 2017, at Kunia Village, from 10:00 a.m. until noon. All media members are invited and encouraged to attend.

This project is the first development partnership for RCAC and reflects the organization’s mission.

The former Del Monte pineapple plantation village operated from 1916 until 2007 and provided workforce housing to its plantation workers. When the company closed its operations, it laid off over 500 workers. However, the land owner, Campbell Estate, sold the acreage containing the village and its related agricultural structures to HARC for $1.o0, with an agreement to continue to provide affordable rental housing at the site. HARC did not have housing development experience, so RCAC agreed to develop a strategy to preserve the housing. Project development began in February 2010 and construction began in March 2017.

Many residents who were born and who raised children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren on the land will attend the ceremony. Kunia Village was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. RCAC provided financing, development expertise and environmental technical assistance for the project.

Kunia Village will provide up to 200 affordable rental units for agricultural workers in the next 20 to 30 years. The village includes a chapel, post office, gym/community center, agricultural businesses and support organizations, warehouses, offices and a wastewater treatment plant.

Founded in 1978, RCAC provides training, technical and financial resources and advocacy so rural communities can achieve their goals and visions. RCAC serves rural communities in 13 western states and western Pacific islands. Services are available to communities with populations of fewer than 50,000, other nonprofit groups, tribal organizations, farmworkers, colonias and other specific populations. RCAC staff provides direct services in collaboration with local and community partnerships in three program areas: affordable housing, environmental services and lending. RCAC provides loans, including small business loans, technical and economic development assistance to rural communities and nonprofit organizations in its service region. To find out more about RCAC’s Loan Fund products, visit https://www.rcac.org/programs-services/

Contact: Michael Carrroll , Director
RCAC Lending & Housing
(916) 447-9832 ext. 1003
mcarroll@rcac.org