The apartments at 1427 Ernest St., which opened with fanfare in 2023, were billed as an early success story in a city plan to fast-track new low-rise affordable rental units.
While the 26-unit new building has provided housing, it also has become a point of tension among neighbors worried about adverse effects from adding so many new people to the Makiki neighborhood, in what has become a common refrain for development in Honolulu.
At neighborhood board meetings, critics said the program might be well-intentioned, but they called for more guardrails to cushion the impact on neighborhoods…