Ohai Street in Hilo -- good, bad, any thoughts? (Wainaku: section 8, apartment)

[xxthinkpinkxo]

Hi all, I'm looking at housing and found what appears to be a dog-friendly place on Ohai Street with a little yard (for all you pet owners you know that's a huge win!) At first I thought it was too good to be true -- but I've called the landlord and it's legit. The only thing is she said it was a very "local" area and she wasn't sure I'd like it. Anyone know about Ohai Street? I'm moving to Hilo from the mainland next month for a new job and hoping to have a few options to weigh by then, or even have something secured. I live in a little apartment in a low-income area of Idaho right now and honestly it's fine. My only concern with a another low-income area would be if crime is high (I'm a young female and I like to go jogging in the evening without worry of being mugged or something). Thanks in advance!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Please don't "secure" anything until you are here. You need to meet the landlord in person, view the apartment in person, and view the neighborhood in person. The landlord was doing you a favor by telling you that the place is in a "local" area, which can mean all sorts of different things so you really do need to check out the area for yourself. We have told people many times here, DO NOT RENT SIGHT UNSEEN.

The best thing for you to do would be to come over without the dog and stay in a short-term rental (hostel, vacation rental) for a couple of weeks while you look around for long-term housing. Then ship the dog once you've secured housing. If you absolutely need to bring the dog with you, then you may be able to find short-term that will allow him/her, but it will be a whole lot harder.

[leilaniguy]

Ohai st. is in Wainaku, an area that comes up in crime reports fairly often. It's near the river where there are homeless camps. I'd think twice.

[smarino]

Worst street in Hilo. Very dicey. You do NOT want to move there. We used to own a couple of condos in that Wainaku area. They weren't next to Ohai (2 or 3 streets over), but still, we were not about to go walking around on that side of the river at night. Even during the day it could be strange. That area goes through either bad times, or a little less bad times. The cops try to clean it up but it never lasts long. There have been some serious crimes there not that long ago (stabbings, murder, street robbery, etc). Quite a risk to live on that street. Wainaku is one of the few areas in Hilo that I would not recommend to anyone. Being local isn't the issue, it's just a bad area, period. Val Hala and The Riverside are both section 8 housing projects, and if I remember correctly, the Riverside is right on Ohai.

Having said that, I knew two haole that lived in the Wainaku area besides us, and they never had anything serious happen besides a ton of noise, a lot of nearby domestic disturbances, bicycle thefts, etc. But they were both men, and one of them is a well known Hilo artist and married to a Hawaiian activist gal, which sorta gives him a free pass. Tomas lives there because he's cheap. When we could afford it, we moved away.

[xxthinkpinkxo]

Well that's a bummer. I knew it seemed too good to be true. Appreciate the insight, though. How about Banyan Drive?

[leilaniguy]

It's noisy. It's where Hilo goes to party. All the housing is in highrise-midrise buildings, so no pets. You might have better luck looking in the Puna subdivisions where more landlords understand you really need dogs (and cats).

[hotzcatz]

If you had an apartment that faced the ocean on Banyan drive it might work, but those are all hotel type condos with very little yards. It's noisy at night, too, because it's where the late night clubs (what there are of them in Hilo) are.

Is your dog small enough to use a litter box? That might make apartment living better for the dog.

Will you be working in Hilo? Most rentals are posted when they're ready to rent, there's no ready in two weeks sort of postings, generally. It's really best to rent after you've seen the place and met with the landlord since there's so many rentals that look great in pictures but have something not in the pictures which would be a deal breaker.

A lot of folks get a VRBO (vacation rental by owner) for several weeks first so they will have a base to work from while finding a rental.