Gavin Thornton, co-executive director of the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, advocated removing in-lieu fees from the options. “When you throw an in-lieu fee in the mix, there’s a big risk that these folks are just going to be somewhere else,” he said.

“We think it’s important to have a reasonable number of truly affordable housing units as part of the mix,” he said. Research shows requiring a 30-year minimum affordability period does not negatively affect a project’s financial viability and is a policy that works elsewhere, he said.