A state agency trying to increase ground-lease rents in Waiahole Valley for about 100 residential and farm tenants with decades-old low rates made several moves Thursday to defuse the tense situation where some fear evictions.

Board members of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. unanimously approved a staff proposal by the agency to push back by three months an April 1 deadline for tenants to agree on new rent for the next 15 years or face arbitration and/or mediation that could result in higher rent than the 560% hike sought by HHFDC.

The agency plans to devise a subsidy program within the extension period to help pay the rent for tenants who can demonstrate that they can’t afford the agency’s offer.

HHFDC also reached an agreement in recent days with a group of 10 farm tenants for rent increases close to 280%, or around half of what was sought.

The concessions followed meetings last week with three groups representing different Waiahole Valley tenants, and a roughly 90-minute private discussion among HHFDC staff, board members and legal counsel at Thursday’s board meeting.

“We’re recommending this deal to the board because we think it’s a fair deal, and we think that it’s good for the future of Waiahole Valley and we think it’s consistent with the public purpose of the state’s acquisition of the valley,” Chris Woodard, HHFDC chief planner, told the board.

The state has subsidized rents in the Windward Oahu valley at far below market rates for decades after blocking urban development there in 1977 when then-Gov. George Ari­yoshi had the state buy the property from a developer under threat of condemnation to preserve the rural community and resolve tenant protests against the prior landowner, who had jacked up rents and attempted evictions.

During the previous struggle, community members aided by outside supporters blocked roads and burned eviction notices after court challenges failed against Elizabeth Loy McCandless Marks, the wealthy landlord who attempted to develop 6,700 homes in Waiahole and neighboring Waikane Valley with local developer Joe Pao.

Today the rural subdivision on land zoned for agriculture includes a sprinkling of private fee-simple residences, some Department of Hawaiian Home Lands lots, Waiahole Elementary School and the site leased by Waiahole Poi Factory.

Though some original lessees have sold their property interests under lease assignments to newcomers in recent decades, there is concern that some longtime tenants will refuse to pay higher rent and resist eviction as was done 45 years ago.

HHFDC owns about 40 farm lots, most or all of which contain houses, and about 60 residential lots in the valley, after receiving the subdivision from a predecessor agency long ago.

Tenants have 55-year ground lease contracts that began in 1998, and their monthly rent since then has largely been frozen in time.

Under lease terms, rent over the past 25 years has gone up once for residential lots and not at all for farm lots.

Leases specify rent renegotiation for a 15-year term commencing June 30, and stipulate that if HHFDC and a tenant can’t agree on new rent by April 1, then a decision will fall to an arbitrator for residential leases, and mediation possibly followed by arbitration for farm leases.

Current farm lot rent is $100 a year per acre, plus $500 a year for a residence occupying up to 7,500 square feet of land. Under HHFDC’s initial offer made in 2022, the annual rate would rise to $660 per acre plus $3,300 for a house on up to 7,500 square feet. Farm tenants also must pay 0.9% of their gross farm income as rent.

HHFDC said monthly rent for a median-size 8-acre farm lot with a house is $108, and would rise to $713 through July 2038 under its offer.

For residential lots, current rent is $600 a year plus 35 cents per square foot for lot area beyond 7,500 square feet. This annual base figure would rise to $3,960 a year for a 7,500-square-foot lot.

HHFDC said the median- size residential lot is a half-acre, where monthly rent would rise to $745 from $119 through July 2038 under its offer.

The agency has said its proposed higher rent would still be about half the market rate and would reduce by only half what has grown into a $1.1 million annual deficit managing the subdivision, mainly because of low rent and a potable water system that is expensive to operate and maintain.

This $1.1 million comes out of a fund meant to help finance construction of affordable housing, which is HHFDC’s main purpose.

A dozen tenants — four with residential lots and eight with farm lots — had previously agreed to HHFDC’s initial offer or an alternative, but others have resisted, including some who have said they would fight the agency’s effort and potential eviction.

On Thursday one of the 10 farm tenants agreeing to a roughly 280% rent increase thanked agency staff for listening and reaching an amicable resolution.

“This has been a long row to hoe, so to speak, in farm terms,” said John Reppun, who has been farming in Waiahole Valley since before the state made its acquisition.

Lucy Salas, president of the Waiahole-Waikane Community Association, which represents about half of all tenants in negotiations, told HHFDC’s board that the agency should find ways to cut its expenses so that it doesn’t need such a big rent increase and can preserve what has long served as rural low-income housing.

Salas said at least half of the association’s members don’t earn enough to afford HHFDC’s offer.

“This is like switching canoes when paddling across a raging oceanic swell,” she said of the rent hike. “Our renters are falling off and being swept away.”

Salas made her comments to the board after the agency presented its revised plan, though she missed the presentation.

Woodard said that in addition to the deadline extension and envisioned rent subsidy program, the agency continues to explore ideas for another entity or entities to take over HHFDC’s ownership and operation of the subdivision.

Ideas previously have included involvement of a community land trust, some other kind of nonprofit and one or more state agencies.