Affordable Climate Resilient Homes
Mission Statement
The Paulele Hale Association (TPHA) is a not-for-profit, Hawaii based organization taking a new approach in creating affordable work force housing designs and developments with innovative climate resilient construction technology.
We strive to provide a non-biased, apolitical approach to informing people of each person’s evolving geographical climatic risks in their housing choices. We are dedicated to educating builders, architects, engineers, construction professionals, planners and other governmental authorities in addressing resilient building techniques, community developments, zoning and more effective methods to create work force housing at a lower cost using modular factory production techniques, better land use practices and innovative financing concepts.
Our goal is to put working people affordably into climate safe homes.
INTRODUCTION TO CLIMATE RESILIENT COMMUNITIES.
Climate resilience refers to the ability to withstand and recover from natural hazards influenced by climate change. TPHA's hybrid home designs offer an affordable solution to withstand severe weather patterns and geological events.
For homeowners, this means choosing a house with an understanding of its climate-related risks. This allows for better preparation to withstand such events while keeping costs lower. With clearer knowledge of location-specific needs during stressful situations, prospective buyers can make wiser decisions.
A TPHA home is more likely to resist climate-related risks and can quickly be assessed for damage. TPHA’s mandate is to develop a system that provides accurate and timely information about a site’s climate risk and the best construction practices to employ for adapting it to those specific climate events.
Elements of Resiliency
Wind, Seismic & Flood Survivability
Hurricanes, tornados, and thunderstorms are now more frequent and severe.
• Our ICF concrete foundations, structural panels and roof construction provides wind resilience up to 150 mph and a seismic E rating (next to the highest).
• An engineered water management system integrated into the foundation allows any water that invades the space to be rapidly evacuated minimizing risk to electrical and mechanical systems as well as personal property.
• We utilize a unique concrete additive that reduces carbon emissions during manufacturing and absorbs CO2 post-cure from the atmosphere. Our designs promote resilience in the face of climate change while minimizing environmental impact.
Although we would never suggest a homeowner “ride out” one of these events the likelihood of your property’s survival is increased substantially.
Water Independence
As weather patterns change and national management standards remain lacking, water resources are increasingly strained. Surface freshwater is diminishing or disappearing, while groundwater availability is shrinking due to over-pumping and contamination of aquifers.
Municipal water and building departments cannot sustainably expand their system's supplies to accommodate the needs of a continuously growing population and address the critical housing shortage.
Water meters and building permits are limited or on hold in some areas due to water source concerns, expected to worsen with expanding droughts.
Our designs provide total water independence.
The Affordable Climate Resilient Home
In the Hawaiian language “Paulele” (pau.lele) means “to have faith, confidence, trust in” and “hale” means house. Our goal is a stylish home you can afford, feel safe in and responds to our changing weather events. Fire, wind, and water are our earthly inheritance. They all hold sway over life and prosperity or misery and destruction.
Existing construction methods and materials have been fractionalized and only marginally changed over the past 125 years. Community development and zoning are still an echo of 1950 suburban concepts which are now contributing to the overuse of resources and a shortage of housing for the next generation.
Interior View
Exterior View
These upcoming generations want and need housing that meets their moral commitment to our “Aina” (land), their personal life style preferences and at a cost they can afford to buy and maintain.
Our mandate is to produce affordable home designs constructed responsibility with climate resilient building systems and alternative water resources which protect homeowners and their families from our changing environment. These are the fundamental elements of TPHA home.
Wildfire Resistance
No structure can be made “wildfire proof”...steel and rock will burn...water evaporates. A wildfire’s rolling flames travel up to 14 miles an hour, which converts to about a four-minute-mile pace that can overtake the average human in minutes.
An average surface fire on the forest floor might have flames reaching 1 meter (3.28 ft.) in height and can reach temperatures of 800°C (1,472° F) or more.
The TPHA’s attractive designs are a systemized group of components that when employed together enhance your chances of withstanding the increasing probability of drought induced wildfire. This could mean the difference of having your home standing when you return from an evacuation or not.
Wildfire Resistance
The technology works on three primary factors to build in survivability.
First, site plans that establish a defensible space or safety zone around the home. This increases the likelihood that it will survive a wildfire even in the absence of firefighters.
Second, a fire-resistant exterior utilizing our proprietary non-combustible finishes and trim components. These are capable of withstanding over a 1093 C (2000 F) radiant heat wave for one hour.
Finally, in a detailed list of components each design addresses wind-blown embers, doors, windows and other fire intrusion risks, each increasing the structure’s wildfire survivability.
Designs For Today and Future Generations
Working in conjunction with material scientists, architects, engineers, and construction professionals the THPA has strived to bring new technologies together in producing a climate resilient home which provides both environmental sustainability and a capacity to weather the wind, fire, flood, and seismic realities of climate change.
With modularization and factory manufacturing the cost per square foot of a TPHA home is lower, the site time to build shortened and the need for connection to water systems eliminated.
Water independence expands where communities can be built. The TPHA is producing a catalog of home designs that integrate its climate resilient technology.
This list of homes will expand as fast as possible with the ongoing recruitment of design talent. Our initial unit offering is a duplex which is intended to be a starter home for first time buyers and a place adapted for older community members with increasing special needs to retire.
Intimate Community Developments
Zoning and building permitting in America have not adapted to the needs of the communities they serve. Long and arduous processes increase costs and force developments toward higher density, resource intensive and infrastructure costly communities to be financially feasible. Variances are difficult to obtain and again drive-up costs due to their inherent political nature. Collectively all of these factors have contributed to the housing shortages we currently have before us.
The TPHA’s approach is one of what we call integrated compliance thru low density education.
With the flexibility of water independence, the TPHA believes smaller communities can be built consisting of initially two to four duplexes (4-8 families) on a generous land allocation creating a family friendly setting while allowing for better integration into both existing neighborhoods and environmental landscapes. To repurpose available land within existing neighborhood, out parcels or small rural areas creates opportunities to build with less potential objection from surrounding homeowners and government agencies. These boundary locked outparcels and infrastructure barren locations can now be utilized with a lower land cost to build small communities which integrate within their natural settings.
The TPHA through its development arm the Aloha One Housing Fund, is planning to build these small communities and offer them for sale in 2025. Interest has been high with prospective first-time buyers since these are targeted to sell for about half the current median home price (Hawaii). If you are interested in one of these units, please sign up at the bottom page of our website and we will put you on our waiting list. This will be managed on a first come basis.
Our Leadership Circle
The Board of the Paulele Hale Association has one primary focus in putting Hawaiian State citizens into climate resilient homes they can afford to buy and maintain.
We believe in achieving our primary goal we can share our efforts in developing climate resilient home technology with our fellow citizens here in Hawaii, as we as in the USA and globally.
Both the prospective owner and government officials need to acknowledge that change is upon us like it or not and that new way of building, living communities and acting with grit can no longer be pushed down the road.
We are the end of that road today.
Our stated goals require diverse leadership in numerous disciplines – we want fresh ideas from a wide range of dedicated people who can share our vision and are willing to boldly act.
To this end we have set term limits of three year on our board members with emeritus position for those who wish to continue to contribute to what we believe to be a human mission.
Board Members
* The Paulele Hale Association is a registered 501(c)(3) corporation. All charitable contributions are fully tax deductible.