Hawaiʻi is even less affordable after the pandemic
How have jobs, wages and costs changed from before the COVID pandemic compared to after? These charts show changes from 2019 to 2022 that have affected livability for Hawaiʻi residents.
Legislative agenda 2023: tax reforms to boost incomes and fund investments in our future
Top of the list of immediate challenges for Hawaiʻi is to find a way to prevent our people from being overwhelmed by the high and rising cost of living in the islands.
What Finland can teach us about ending homelessness in Hawaiʻi
Hawaiʻi can end homelessness. It starts with a mindset shift: housing is a human right, and the cost to provide housing to each and every person in Hawaiʻi is well worth the necessary investment in public resources.
What made the 2022 Hawaiʻi legislative session a win for working families?
After multiple years with little progress on policy to help working families survive Hawaiʻi’s highest-in-the-nation cost of living, several factors came together to deliver a banner year in 2022.
Hawaiʻi should eliminate its tipped sub-minimum wage
Research shows that employers frequently exploit tip credit provisions to pay their employees beneath the legal minimum wage. As a result, tipped workers tend to earn lower, less consistent wages than non-tipped workers, and they are more likely to experience poverty.
Federal spending reduced overall poverty last year despite the pandemic-recession
But in Hawaiʻi, tens of thousands of residents below the poverty line still struggled to make ends meet.
Incomes in Hawaiʻi are not as high as you’ve heard: Here’s why
Over the years, the media has often reported that Hawaiʻi incomes are among the highest in the nation. If that doesn’t sound quite right to you, trust your gut.
School breakfast: building a solid foundation for learning
When you checkout at Safeway in September, you’ll have the option to donate to this important fundraiser to expand participation in school breakfast programs.
ADU demo draws hundreds of visitors
The 10th-annual Build-a-Thon included a model accessory dwelling unit (ADU), a small dwelling that can be built on single-family properties.
Hawaiʻi bill will create historic new working families tax credit
Rep. Scott Saiki called passage of the bill the “most consequential work in the last few years to reduce poverty and Hawaiʻi’s high cost of living.”
A win for Hawaiʻi’s foster families
The state human services department has agreed to increase the amount that should be paid to cover the expense of caring for children in foster care.
Appleseed releases 2016 State of Poverty report
The report brings together the most recent available data to provide a snapshot of how low-income residents have fared after the economic recovery from the Great Recession.