Faced with a one-time windfall in federal pandemic relief funding in the recent session, Hawaii’s Legislature reserved half of its budget allotment for affordable housing, $150 million, for subsidies to middle-income residents.

Yes, virtually all but high-income households in Hawaii are struggling with the cost of living. However, given the dire need for low-income housing, the onus is on the state to spend this money in a targeted and strategic manner.

It’s not clear that this was the case with the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. (HHFDC) board’s Nov. 10 decision to allot $142 million of this funding to four housing projects.

These projects were planned even before lawmakers provided this special funding, and were already required to include affordable housing. In two of the projects, plans changed course and were upscaled — providing housing to middle-income, rather than low-income, households.

The money provided will subsidize financing costs for 759 apartments, with two projects in Kakaako, one in Koa Ridge on Oahu, and one in Hilo.

At one of the Kakaako projects, Stanford Carr Development once planned to include units for very low- and low- income households in addition to middle-income households in its 859-unit, two-tower project, Kahuina. The HHFDC is supporting the project with $24 million. Current plans include no units in the lowest range; instead, there will be 80 units for households earning up to 80% of the median income, and 43 for households earning up to the median income. The rest will be market-priced condos.

In Hilo, a developer once planned a 105-unit building with all apartments targeting low-income households, who would earn no more than 60% of Hawaii island’s median income. Now, plans are for all apartments to house middle-income residents.

The HHFDC board ranks a project higher for providing housing in an area where most residents earn more than those targeted. This approach is welcome, as the state should strive to support communities with varied incomes; this contributes to diversity in school populations and units for essential workers, such as teachers, nurses and police officers.

But those healthy, diverse communities should house low- and very low-income workers, as well. A community’s grocery clerks, parking attendants and security guards should not be shut out of the “good” neighborhoods that they maintain and keep running.