a dog-eared town

It’s nice that Mr Kawamoto want’s to improve his image, but I’m not sure that this is the way to do it.

Tears spilled down Kahale’s cheeks as she accepted from 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.

If this house is anything like Al Bore’s, they’re going to be homeless again.

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

Kawamoto, one of Japan’s richest men, said he plans to open eight of his 22 Kahala homes to needy Hawaiian families. They will be able to stay in the homes for up to 10 years, he said.

Obviously he’s bucking to improve his image for some reason. No one just does this especially after having a history of playing hardball.

He has been criticized for evicting tenants of his rental homes on short notice so he could sell the properties, as in 2002 when he gave hundreds of California tenants 30 days to leave.

Two years later, he served eviction notices to tenants in 27 Oahu rental homes, mostly in pricey Hawaii Kai, saying they had to leave within a month. He said he wanted to sell the houses to take advantage of rising prices.

Unfortunately, the people that got this house, are in shape able to pay for even the electricity.

Kahale’s new house is worth nearly $5 million, an average price for the mansion-like dwellings on Kahala Avenue. It is one of the more modest homes in the neighborhood, many of which feature ornate iron gates, meandering driveways and sculptured gardens.

Kahale became homeless two years ago when her landlord raised her rent from $800 to $1,200, putting the apartment beyond reach of her salary as customer service representative for Pacific LightNet, a telecommunications company. She first stayed with relatives, then moved to a shelter in September.

Let’s be honest, if she can’t afford the extra $400 a month for rent, what’s she going to do when the electricity costs as much as she used to pay for rent by itself.

It seems to me, it would be better for this guy to build housing and get the homeless into learning how to deal with money. Giving them housing that they are in no shape to take care of, isn’t going to help them. You know, it’s that old giving a person to fish thing. Of course it could work out well, but I doubt it.