Moving to Maui or near by smaller islands on a fix income (Hilo: rental market, how much)

[Terese95437]

Hi,
I'm interested in information on people who live on SSI on $783.00 a month. How much do these folks get in food stamps?

Also about public transportation information would be appreciated. Information on clinics for medical and dental too.

I would be living in senior housing in Maui or near by islands like Lahani, and Molokai though the beaches look far, and maybe no public transportation. And also expensive on the ferries to Maui. Is there a price for locals for the ferry?

Any information would be appreciated in these areas listed above. Thank you.
Aloha

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Terese95437

Hi,
I'm interested in information on people who live on SSI on $783.00 a month. How much do these folks get in food stamps?

And also expensive on the ferries to Maui. Is there a price for locals for the ferry?

There are many factors that go into food stamp calculations - income is one of them, but there are others. The maximum monthly benefit for a household of 1 is $194.

Despite an active website, the Molokai Ferry closed permanently Oct 2016. The only options are plane (expensive) or private boat charter (very expensive)

[Futuremauian]

Originally Posted by Terese95437

Hi,
I'm interested in information on people who live on SSI on $783.00 a month. How much do these folks get in food stamps?

Also about public transportation information would be appreciated. Information on clinics for medical and dental too.

I would be living in senior housing in Maui or near by islands like Lahani, and Molokai though the beaches look far, and maybe no public transportation. And also expensive on the ferries to Maui. Is there a price for locals for the ferry?

Any information would be appreciated in these areas listed above. Thank you.
Aloha

What you are suggesting is simply not possible.

Your annual income would be $9,396 per year (plus food stamps). Low-income for ONE on Maui is $54,700 per year. (Oahu is $67,500.) The waitlist to get into subsidized Senior Housing is years. Many die of old age while waiting for a place to open up.

I'm not sure you could even live here homeless on $783 per month.

We have recently had a debate about whether or not a person can live here comfortably on $75,000 per year.
(See the thread titled "California Bound" in the Oahu forum.)

If your income will support you now, I suggest you stay wherever you are currently.

[Terese95437]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

There are many factors that go into food stamp calculations - income is one of them, but there are others. The maximum monthly benefit for a household of 1 is $194.

Despite an active website, the Molokai Ferry closed permanently Oct 2016. The only options are plane (expensive) or private boat charter (very expensive)

Thank you for your reply.

Appreciated.

[Terese95437]

Originally Posted by Futuremauian

What you are suggesting is simply not possible.

Your annual income would be $9,396 per year (plus food stamps). Low-income for ONE on Maui is $54,700 per year. (Oahu is $67,500.) The waitlist to get into subsidized Senior Housing is years. Many die of old age while waiting for a place to open up.

I'm not sure you could even live here homeless on $783 per month.

We have recently had a debate about whether or not a person can live here comfortably on $75,000 per year.
(See the thread titled "California Bound" in the Oahu forum.)

If your income will support you now, I suggest you stay wherever you are currently.

Thank you.

Yes I did turn down subsidized housing in Maui ten years ago. And just applied again. No I wouldn't want to live on the the island homeless.

[Futuremauian]

Originally Posted by Terese95437

Thank you.

Yes I did turn down subsidized housing in Maui ten years ago. And just applied again. No I wouldn't want to live on the the island homeless.

Please let us know how this turns out. I've read that subsidized housing is very difficult to obtain.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Futuremauian

Please let us know how this turns out. I've read that subsidized housing is very difficult to obtain.

If you can get on the waitlist, which is opening soon via lottery (not first come first serve) the average wait is 31 months.

[Plantastic]

Check the rental market, via craigslist.

You can get idea of what the real time rental rates are, as well as take note of how many of them specifically state "Not Hud Approved". If you check regularly, you will also see that even if you do have a subsidized housing voucher, there is very few opportunities to use it. People that are on subsidized housing are desperate to find Landlords that accept it.

[Weaubleau]

They got a name for that Jules, it's called a bum!

[hotzcatz]

It's pretty expensive to get to Hawaii, Terese95437, and every time someone not from the islands or even another island want to visit you, they have to pay the same expensive airfares. When you want to visit them, the same airfares are there.

Once you're here, expenses for everything (except heating bills since nobody has a heater) is probably much more expensive than where you are. Should you get the maximum amount of food stamps as WhiteViper menioned - $194, that won't go as far as it probably would where you are. Not to get into a controversy about the price of milk, but that runs anywhere from $5.75 a gallon on up. Eggs, another typically 'inexpensive' food, are $2.50 a dozen on up, the $2.50 a dozen is somewhat seasonal. These are as low as the prices get, there's no cheaper selections for milk or eggs but lots of much more expensive ones. Bread, if you can find it for $3 a loaf, is considered a deal. Electricity rates are probably double to four times higher than where you are.

If you're living near the edge on your monthly income now, moving to a higher cost of living location may not be a good idea, even if you do get subsidized housing. There's more monthly costs than just housing. Everything is just a bit more expensive so even though you think, well, it's only an extra dollar or two, I'll just use less of it. But that's EVERYTHING is a bit more expensive so it adds up really quickly. You'd be living on 10% to 60% less than what you get now, depending on where you are now.

Why do you want to move to Hawaii? There's a lot of restrictions and constrictions involved in moving to a few small specks of land about 2,500 miles away from any sizable continent. Most of our additional costs of living as well as most of our restrictions are due to that remote location. Is living here worth those restrictions?

All the islands with the exception of Oahu are rural with no options of anything city like at all. No big art museums, no big theater productions, no big sports teams or even big sporting events larger than the local high school. We can manage 'large town' events on the islands other than Oahu, but nothing bigger than that. Hilo has a small zoo, lovely, but very small by most zoo standards. Maui has an aquarium, I think, although I've not seen it since we don't get to Maui often - because of the air fares and once we get there we then need to rent a car and hotel room like any other tourist.

There is no public transportation between the islands other than via airplane and fares run about $100 on up each way so going to the other islands isn't done unless there's a reason. Especially since, as noted, once there you then get to rend a car and hotel room. The public transportation on Oahu is almost adequate for getting around, Maui has some, but I don't know the details of it. The public transportation on the Island of Hawaii is very limited but at least now we have some, it's fairly new being there for probably less than a decade now. Not that the buses are new, those are ones taken out of the fleet from Oahu, but at least we have some now.

Very few areas on the islands other than Oahu even have home mail delivery, most folks have to go to the post office to get their mail. Not all areas have water piped to the house, they depend on rainfall to collect water. Electricity is now available in most areas, but not all. Cell service is highly dependent on your exact location. Cable may or may not service the area. Pizza delivery and most if not all food delivery service doesn't exist. Maybe in some areas on Oahu, maybe in some areas on Maui. On very few areas of the other islands. Depending on what you're used to, this could be a very different sort of place.