WAILUKU, Maui — Maui's elderly can look forward to more opportunities for affordable rental housing with this month's opening of a 61-unit Wailuku apartment complex and the groundbreaking for the first homes in a 112-unit project in Kihei.

Word of the Wailuku project, called Lokenani Hale, was a relief to Antonietta Kearney. She said she hasn't gotten a good night's sleep in days, worrying about where she's going to live. Kearney was working as a live-in caregiver when her patient died a couple weeks ago. Since then she has been living with a friend and hopes to move into the $10.8 million apartment complex, which opens Dec. 15.

"When you don't have a place to stay, it's hard," said Kearney, who attended a blessing for the building yesterday with friend Ann Garcia. "This is a dream come true for a lot of people."

Lokenani Hale, on Loke Street off Central Avenue, was developed by Wailuku Senior Living LP, headed by Byron Ooka, on land that was used for overflow parking for his family's grocery, Ooka Supermarket.

The store closed in June after 64 years in business. The separate 1.3-acre supermarket property was sold to the nonprofit Community Clinic of Maui, which is planning to refurbish the building into a health clinic for low-income residents.

The housing project was built with public and private financing. The Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawai'i is providing nearly $930,000 annually in state and federal low-income housing tax credits.

In exchange for state assistance, Wailuku Senior Living agreed to keep rents affordable for 51 years.

The one-bedroom, 484-square-foot units will be rented for $595 a month, utilities included, to tenants age 62 and older who make no more than $23,750 in annual income for one, or $27,150 for two people.

One of the tenants will be Ann Kuwada, 89, who is the grandmother of Ooka's wife, Glennis. The Wailuku apartment where Kuwada has been living for 17 years was sold and she must move. Kuwada said she is looking forward to moving into a smaller place that's easier to take care of and closer to town.

Another resident will be Yukiko Sato, 79, who said she likes the cheaper rent, being able to walk to her doctor's office and other places, and living in a safe home with help nearby. Sato, who doesn't drive, now lives alone in a two-bedroom cottage in Wailuku.

"I'll have friends around to take me shopping," she said.

Ooka agrees the location is a major draw. "It's a good project in the heart of Wailuku town, away from the hustle and bustle of Kahului," he said.

Having a 47-square-foot lanai with views to 'Iao Valley and the ocean are another attraction, said resident manager Terry Fernandez. She said she has sent out 40 housing applications so far for the 61 units.

Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa said rentals are a key component of the county's affordable housing plan, since young people and senior citizens often cannot afford to buy or maintain a home.

The $25 million Kihei project, called Hale Maha'olu 'Ehiku, is being developed by the county and Hale Maha'olu on six acres of county land at the corner of Pi'ilani Highway and East Welakahao Road.

The nonprofit Hale Maha'olu agency manages 13 properties in Maui County with more than 900 rental units for low- and moderate-income families, the elderly and people with disabilities. The waiting list for those properties is more than a year long.

The 'Ehiku development will be Hale Maha'olu's first project in South Maui, one of the state's fastest-growing regions.

Officials will hold a groundbreaking tomorrow for the first 34 one-bedroom units in the 54-unit first phase, which includes an adult daycare center for 70 clients and a community building for social activities and events.

Hale Maha'olu Executive Director Roy Katsuda said the first units should be ready for occupancy by next December.

He said the new complex will not only provide housing but allow the agency to provide meals, personal care and other services to senior citizens living elsewhere in the area.

The second phase will add 58 units and a long-term-care home for eight.

The project is receiving federal and state money, with additional support from the county and private grants.

Residents who qualify for federal subsidies will pay no more than 30 percent of their income for rent, Katsuda said, and others probably will pay in the range of $460 to $500 a month.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.