Affordable Housing
A safe, stable home is the foundation for everything else.
Affordable housing is the foundation of economic security.
For too many Hawaiʻi residents, the foundation that stable housing provides is cracking. We face the highest housing costs in the country and one of the nation’s worst rates of homelessness. Only about 20% of residents can afford to buy a home. Median rents hover around $2,500 — roughly 50% higher than the national average — and nearly two-thirds of renter households spend more than 30% of their income on rent.
This is not just a housing crisis. It is a health crisis, an education crisis, and an economic crisis.
Housing policy must reflect local values: safe, accessible homes for all, regardless of income or circumstance. That means recognizing shelter as a basic human right. Our affordable housing work sits at the intersection of every other issue area — without a place to live, you cannot access food, transportation, education, or economic opportunity. Housing is the base. Everything else is built on top of it.
Build the homes Hawaiʻi needs.
Reform zoning rules that have held back construction, expand financing for permanently affordable homes, and modernize permitting so supply can grow to match demand.
Keep renters housed.
Stronger tenant protections, just-cause eviction standards, and stability where the market has failed — so families aren't displaced overnight from the only homes their kids have known.
Lift people out of homelessness.
Permanent supportive housing, expanded rental assistance, and the wraparound services that get and keep people in stable homes — instead of cycling them through shelters.
Hawaiʻi has the nation’s highest housing wage:
$49.19 / hour to afford a 2BR rental.
Hawaiʻi’s housing crisis hits everyone
Teachers, nurses, firefighters, kūpuna on fixed income, working renters, and people pushed onto the streets — the crisis is broad and deep. These are the communities feeling the squeeze first and hardest.
Working renters
65% cost-burdened
Nearly two-thirds of Hawaiʻi renter households spend more than 30% of their income on rent.
Median rent: ~$2,500/moEssential workers
Priced out
Teachers, nurses, firefighters, and service-industry workers increasingly can’t afford to live in the communities they serve.
Fueling outmigrationKūpuna & fixed income
12.6% rent jump
Older adults on fixed retirement income face rent increases of 12.6% since 2019 — with no way to absorb them.
Often choosing rent over careHomelessness
~8,400 statewide
On any given night, thousands of people are without shelter — the highest per-capita rate in the country.
A crisis we can solveBuild, protect, and invest
Seven housing priorities, grouped into three areas where Hawaiʻi can change course — unlocking supply, keeping families housed, and funding affordability at scale.
Supply
Decades of restrictive land-use rules have throttled construction. Hawaiʻi needs to build up instead of out — infilling existing neighborhoods, prioritizing housing near services and transit, and removing artificial caps that prevent housing within the urban land use boundary.
- Maximize TOD density High minimum-density requirements in transit-oriented districts and removal of barriers to dense housing near transit. More people near goods, services, and transportation — lower costs and natural long-term affordability.
- Reduce minimum lot sizes Require counties to reduce and standardize minimum lot sizes so smaller, more flexible homes are viable. Hawaiʻi’s land is more valuable than the houses on it — large lot minimums inflate the base cost of every home.
- Inclusionary zoning reform Require counties to commission a study before implementing inclusionary zoning, so well-meaning programs don’t inadvertently raise housing costs or chill development.
“We’ve been waiting nineteen months for a permit on a duplex. By the time it’s approved, materials cost twice what they did when we filed.” — Small builder, Hilo
Protect
Two-thirds of Hawaiʻi renters are cost-burdenedCost-burdened — spending more than 30% of household income on rent and utilities. Severely cost-burdened means spending over 50%., paying more than 30% of their income on rent. Understanding your rights is the first line of defense against displacement — and codifying existing best practices closes the gap between policy and reality.
- Notice of tenant rights Require the Office of Consumer Protection to publish language-accessible notices of tenant rights, and require landlords to provide that notice to tenants. Understanding your rights is the best way to exercise them.
- Displacement assistance Provide payment to renters displaced by new developments. HHFDC already does this in practice — this proposal encodes it in law so the protection applies statewide.
“Our landlord sold the building. We had 45 days to find a new home in a market where listings start at twice our rent.” — Kalihi family of four
Invest
A modernized conveyance taxConveyance tax — a one-time tax paid when real property changes ownership. Hawaiʻi’s current rates top out at 1.25% for properties over $10M — well below peer-state luxury rates. on luxury real estate could generate over $100 million annually for affordable housing and Native Hawaiian home lands — without raising costs for the average owner-occupant. Pair it with deed-restriction tools that keep new housing available to local families.
- Conveyance tax reform A marginal-rate structure that reduces taxes for average owner-occupants while increasing them on second properties and luxury homes. Generates over $100 million per year for infrastructure, affordable housing, and DHHL.
- Locals-only housing Deed restrictions that reserve new housing for qualified residents at price points tied to local wages — via the 201H alternative pathway, ADU grants in exchange for deed restrictions, and county deed-restriction programs.
“A five-million-dollar luxury home and a working family’s first house shouldn’t be taxed the same way when they change hands.” — Kauaʻi affordable-housing advocate
Our Impact
A decade of housing wins — from rental assistance during the pandemic to permanent investments in the state's affordable housing pipeline.
Won the right to education for homeless keiki
Sued to ensure that homeless children in Hawaiʻi have full, meaningful access to a public education — closing the gap between policy and practice for the most vulnerable students in the state.
Forced overdue repairs to public housing
Sued to compel long-overdue upgrades at the Kuhio Park Terrace and Mayor Wright Homes public-housing developments, which had fallen into extreme disrepair. The litigation ended squalor conditions and won livable homes for thousands of low-income residents.
Preserved Front Street Apartments in Lahaina
Sued to preserve 51 years of affordable housing at Front Street Apartments, winning a judgment that the developer could not break its promise and raise rents to market rate decades early. The victory preserved 142 affordable units for low-income kūpuna and families — units that would later be destroyed in the 2023 wildfires.
Stood up Hawaiʻi’s pandemic rent-relief program
Advocated successfully for an emergency rent relief and eviction-mediation program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research later showed the program saved tens of thousands of households from homelessness when Hawaiʻi unemployment was among the highest in the nation.
Secured ~$1B in state housing funds
Helped secure nearly $1 billion in state funds for affordable housing development — including $600 million for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the largest single appropriation for DHHL in state history.
Leading conveyance tax reform & tenant protections
Driving the fight for conveyance-tax reform that generates over $100 million annually for affordable housing and Native Hawaiian home lands. Advocating for tenant-protection bills that give renters the information and stability they need to stay housed, and for regulatory reforms that remove artificial caps on housing within the urban land use boundary.
Research & News
Reports from our Affordable Housing team, plus news coverage and analysis from around Hawaiʻi.
Help us build a Hawaiʻi families can afford.
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