A proposal to build 151 affordable senior rental apartments in Chinatown gives a needed boost to Oahu’s low-income elderly, a vulnerable group facing a severe housing shortage.

There is much to recommend the River Street project, known as the Halewai’olu Residences and to be built by The Michaels Development Co. in partnership with the city.

Halewai’olu would offer one- and two-bedroom apartments for a seriously underserved market: those seniors 62 and older making between 80 percent and 60 percent AMI (area median income), which translates to individual incomes of $53,700 or lower. Currently, private developers are required by the city to set aside 30 percent of new units for households making up to 140 percent of AMI ($93,940). One-bedroom units would rent for between $450 and $1,000 — a bargain, given that the average market-rate price for a one-bedroom rental on Oahu is more than $1,500, depending on location.

And the right location is crucial. Low-income elderly folks can’t just hop in their SUVs to buy groceries. Having the basic necessities of life within walking distance, with public transit close by, helps seniors stay healthy and independent longer. Halewai’olu, located between North Kukui Street and Vineyard Boulevard, would meet that need.

Like other affordable housing projects by private developers, this one comes as a public-private partnership and with a public cost. The city would lease its property to Michaels Development for 65 years.

The developer would tap into public funds such as federal tax credits and the state’s Rental Housing Trust Fund (RHTF), which received a $40 million infusion from the Legislature this year — far below the $100 million requested by Gov. David Ige and below the project’s estimated $49 million cost.

The project is in the conceptual stage and more work needs to be done. Success will depend on the developer, the city, the state and the Chinatown community working cooperatively to ensure not only that the project gets built, but that it enhances the historic district.

It’s the kind of project that demands such involvement. The towers would change the area dramatically. Conceptual drawings show two gleaming white towers, one of them 250 feet tall, rising over Nuuanu Stream between North Kukui Street and Vineyard Boulevard. Included in the plans is a low-slung community center, which could serve both the building residents and the community at large.

In a press release, the city said that the style of the development "complements Chinatown’s unique character and sense of place." Whether it actually does ought to be subject to discussion.

Previous efforts to build affordable housing in the same area met with stiff opposition. In 2009, community complaints doomed a plan by former Mayor Mufi Hannemann to build 100 affordable-housing units for the chronically homeless, based on the comprehensive Housing First model. There was no doubt then — or now — that such housing was desperately needed. At the time, however, opponents said that any affordable housing development in Chinatown should include a more diverse population, including the elderly, and not just serve the hard-core homeless.

Halewai’olu is an answer to those complaints, and the community’s outspoken leaders should get behind it.

Hawaii’s population is steadily aging, with the poor among them. A quarter of Oahu’s population will be age 60 or older within the decade; people over 65 years old will reach as high as 23.6 percent of the total population of Hawaii by 2040.

A 2014 rental housing study for Oahu predicted that the number of rental housing units needed for seniors aged 55 and up, and between 30 and 140 percent AMI, will exceed 3,600 by 2020, five years from now.

More ominously, the homeless population in Hawaii is graying as well. The 2013 Homeless Service Utilization Report found a majority of those homeless people seeking services, 34 percent, were aged 40-59.

Another 7 percent were 60 years and over. Furthermore, a survey of 2,100 homeless households, conducted by the advocacy group PHOCUSED, found that the average age of those who were chronically homeless — an average of 8 years on the streets — was 61.5 years.

Finding affordable rental housing in Honolulu’s overheated real estate market is especially difficult for elderly people with fixed incomes, limited mobility and a desire to be independent. Safe, well-made affordable housing developments enhance both the lives of our seniors and the communities where they are located.