Affordable Housing
There is a growing consensus around the need for bold solutions to Hawaiʻi’s housing crisis. The public and policymakers increasingly agree that housing policy must reflect local values—ensuring safe, affordable homes for all, regardless of income or circumstance.
Addressing Hawaiʻi's housing shortage requires major public investment in infrastructure, new affordable housing, and in preserving existing stock. It also requires funding rent assistance and support services for vulnerable residents. We must recognize shelter as a basic human right. This shift in mindset is critical to solving the crisis.
2026 Legislative Priorities
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Codify into law tenant protection measures, such as:
Just Cause Eviction, which clarifies the different scenarios under which a tenant can or cannot be evicted; and
Right to Return, which provides payment to renters who are displaced by new developments or allows for them to return to redeveloped projects. This practice is already used by HHFDC around 201H projects but it is not encoded in HAR or HRS.
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Using deed restrictions to facilitate the creation of housing reserved for qualified residents at a scale which would create a secondary market tied to local wages. A deed restriction program of the required scale can be done through: the 201H alternative pathway; grant money for ADU construction in exchange for deed restriction; or county deed restriction programs to reserve existing housing stock.
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Increase the conveyance tax on non owner-occupied housing to raise revenue for both the general fund and a new special fund to finance housing development through the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. This proposal would create a marginal rate structure for residential properties only. The resulting rate structure would actually reduce the tax owed by the average owner occupant while increases the tax owed on second properties and luxury housing.
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Create high minimum density requirements to support Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and public transit projects and remove barriers to constructing dense housing in TOD districts.
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Require counties to reduce and standardize minimum lot sizes. Smaller lot sizes allow for smaller development and better utilization of the State Urban Land Use District.
Parking mandates can have a large impact on affordable housing projects, according to a report by the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice.