Want to rent a multimillion dollar home for $150/mo?

Since when is it the governments job to “fulfill the needs of citizens” ?

If there had been some kind of natural disaster or political unrest, then temporary government assistance seems called for.

I am thinking there must be more to this story than what appears here.

Yeah but the government has some responsibility to alleviate poverty. No?

I think it’s great what the guy is doing. The rich (mighty rich at that) helping the poor.

Yeah, just 2992 families to go :D

Damn, those families are lucky! The houses on Kahala Avenue are =amazing=.

This is just plain stupid. He should have rented or sold the property at market value, and then taken that money or cash flows to build new housing or subsidize rent for 500 families.
Instead he likes to show off, make 1 family happy and the rest frustrated.
The objective is to make most people happy, not one family the happiest.

What a loser.

There not being a panacea for any personal, social, economic or political crisis needs to be kept in mind before anyone chooses to criticize this effort by a billionaire in creatively assisting some homeless families great need in the very expensive neighborhood of Hawaii.
I respect his intentions. The challenge that he addresses in the future I hope will be more towards coordinating his and other billionaires vast resources in helping a larger fraction of the one and only Human Race who live in a country that refers to itself as being the United States yet are in great need of better assistance in affording the cost of living in our own country.
We all have two eyes and one nose you know. To qualify an individual for assistance due to their assigned “racial” identity or cultural heritage is ignoring the findings of anthropology and archaeology that have always allowed all who can read to know that Africa is the motherland to all of us. After centuries of playing games with “racial identity” I doubt that this issue will be completely solved by the end of this year.
Homes and medical care should begin to be provided for all American citizens as well as begin to provide very valuable Workshops here at the beginning of the 21st Century on the Myth of Racism on the planet Earth. I am waiting for any of our thousands of politicians to begin to responsibly employing themself in addressing this issue. (Don’t worry, I’m not holding my breath)

I just wanted to say that I really in truly think that it is a blessing that he is actually trying to assist the single working mothers. I feel that it is not anyone’s fault that we as single parents are in the situation that we are in but it also helps to know that someone does care. I can see the single parents who are not trying to do anything for themselves but the ones who are we get critized & put in the same category as the ones who are not, and I truly feel that it is not right. There are alot of single mothers out here busting our behinds to make a better living for our kids & still have it ruff but we get by. If Mr. Kawamoto would come to the states and offer something like that or even money to assist it would truly be a blessing.

Oliver, you beat me to it.
Even though housing in the islands is getting so high it’s just out of reach even to people, such as single mothers, who have deacent jobs, helping eight families at the tune of $5mil per house is just not real charity. He could have helped many, many more families, at a substantial $400,000 per home, that’s 100 famalies!
I actually find this type of “charity” distasteful. Sure lots of people wish they could live in a mansion
(Hell, even i do sometimes, and i’m way more practical than that.) but in the long run has he really helped anyone??? Is he also going to pay the electric, gas, and water… for homes in the 6,000+ sq. foot range that can be pricey. And what about daily cleaning? Do they get maid service? After spending my life cleaning my own home in the 2,000sqft range I’d be upset havig to keep up with a home that size as well as working full time. And after ten years, then what? These famalies go back to living in a run down 900sqft. place that they can barely pay rent on.

Either this guy just wanted some time in the press, or he isn’t as smart as all his money might make you think.

I think that the families of this billionairs “charity” have a great oppurtunity to see how life is on the other side of the fence. What ever the billionairs intent maybe , I hope the families will learn something from all this. And, oh yeah enjoy it.
People shouldnt blame them and not want them in the neighborhood because of the billionairs decision. They just want want we all want. A nice , deacent life, and a safe home to live it in.

I wish it was me. Someone who has been through 2 foreclosures on their home and is still looking for a way to fix the problem. I am not a millionaire, far from it. However, I have a $5000.00 a month house payment. My husband and I are doing everything possible to make the payment so it does not get in a foreclosure situation again. I don’t know anyone else that has that kind of a mortgage payment. I think the goverment should step in and make sure that all homes are filled with people so that they are occupied and that everyone has reasonable payments that are affordable. It’s like the lottery, how does a person that is making say 20-30k a year win 20 million dollars and know how to invest it and make a better future for them and others around them. Alot of those winners do not know how to handle that kind of money and get involved with drugs, major bills and other issues and a few years later have lost it all. I think the lottery should top out at $1 million dollars and have 20 people win it so that the amounts are lower and more reasonable and more people have a chance of some wealth. I think Mr. Kawamoto is a person with a kind heart and is giving to people who need it and how nice to go to bed at night and sleep knowing you have given to others and they have a roof over their heads and food to eat and not on welfare! Hats of to Him.

It’s not JUST up to our Government to help people. It’s up to ALL of us. The concern I have with Mr. Billionaire’s kind and generous offer is that the people he so graciously endowed with a millionaire’s palace to live in gave them $1,000 dollars and an awesome deal. But what about education? How are they going to be able to afford paying even just the utilities on such a place? I can only imagine how expensive it would be to run a home of such enormity! Where are they going to work? How can they better themselves if what little money they do have goes to pay utilities? What will they do 10 years from now? Would it not perhaps have benefited the unfortunate people more if he had offered help with housing on a scaled down level, plus help with an education to help them become more self sufficient? I don’t believe in fishing for someone to feed them for a day. I do, however believe in teaching that person to fish for themselves so they can care for themselves for a lifetime. While his gifts are generous, it’s not a very well thought out plan.

Ok, there has to be more to this story than meets the eye. Since he is using his investment properties to house homeless I am sure he has a plan. Remember, rich people just do not want to live near homeless. I have to tell you like it is. Let’s face it, I worked in a neighborhood where the very wealthy resided. I mean there are famous football players that lived in there, doctors, business professionals, etc. Do you really think these people want to live next to a home with that many children? I know how rich people think. I have neved met one rich person that said, “I want to live in a neighborhood with many homeless mothers and their children.” I really do know how they think. Now if you were very wealthy, I don’t think you would want to live next to homeless people who have many kids.

First of all those women and their children are not going to fit in with this culture. Usually, they will be looked upon as inferior. They both have different types of mindsets. Do you honestly think you want a child that was once homeless coming into your house to visit? You would probably be following the kid around to make sure he didn’t steal anything. Each socio-economic group has boundaries. It’s just not going to be easy for a person of extreme poverty to fit in with wealthy people. I worked with people who are so wealthy that their summer homes were in the millions. Every once in a blue moon I actually came across a human being that genually cared, but for the most part most of them were as cheap as could be. I remember this one lady telling me that she wasn’t even going to pay the help the median wage. She said she was looking for an illegal that would work for pennies on the dollar. We are talking about people who have so much money that they can spend like 60k to 75k a month and not feel a loss. Can you imagine being that wealthy but your too cheap to pay an illegal the median wage for her work? She purposly was looking for an illegal to work for her real cheap. I mean I told her I wanted more money. She actually gave in a little because I am of the same ethnic background as her. Thank God…as least she forked over a little more for me.

But, if you are going to tell me that people of that calibur are going to hand over million dollar homes to homeless woman with many children, I will tell you this guy has a plan. More than likely he wants the quality of the neighborhood to decline. He can buy more investment properties cheaper…and at the right time, kick those innocent families out.

I wouldn’t trust it for one moment. If he really cared, I would say why not buy an apartment building in a area where these type of families would fit in. Don’t just take in 8 famililes take in hundreds. But, that wouldn’t be a good investment now would it?