Property values soar, depleting lower-cost options

Nicole Woo, senior policy analyst at the nonprofit Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, said government should look for opportunities to make better use of publicly owned land for public purposes such as housing.

She also cited the potential yield of rental units and other low-cost housing solutions in transit-oriented development (TOD) along the 20-mile rail route, starting in East Kapolei.

That end of the TOD enterprise has yet to materialize, but in the blueprints for towers at the lucrative Ala Moana end of the tracks, developers already seem less than enthused about delivering affordable housing where it’s needed.

For its part, the city administration must see that any exemptions from height and density limits given to developers be offset by significant contributions in public benefits. Affordable rentals for working families and individuals are most critically needed—from the west side to the urban core.

In its April report, “The State of Poverty in Hawaiʻi,” Hawaiʻi Appleseed calculated that an hourly wage of $31.61 is needed to afford a market-priced two-bedroom rental. The average hourly wage of a renter here is $14.49.

Clearly, there’s a gap in what the housing market alone will provide. And time is running out for government to build bridges.