Eight years ago, Civil Beat published “The Brutal Reality of Owning a Condo in Hawaiʻi,” highlighting sudden assessments, steep maintenance fee increases, and the absence of meaningful oversight in condominium governance.
Today, the situation has not only persisted — it has evolved into a deeper, more urgent crisis. This time, the impact falls most heavily on Hawaiʻi’s seniors, who make up a growing share of the state’s condominium residents and who rely on these units as their primary homes, retirement security, and pathway to aging in place.
Hawaiʻi is unique in that 40% of its population lives in condominiums, many of which were built decades ago — in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s — and are now reaching the end of their functional life cycles. These buildings were never designed for today’s environmental conditions, the intensity of coastal exposure, or the extended lifespan demanded of them.
As plumbing systems fail, concrete spalling spreads, electrical components corrode, and elevators break down, the cost of catching up on long-deferred maintenance has skyrocketed. Special assessments of $20,000, $50,000, even $100,000 or more are becoming common. For seniors on fixed incomes, these costs are not just burdensome — they are destabilizing and, in many cases, life-altering…