Proposal for Hawaiʻi to build and sell leasehold condos judged unfeasible

“Although there is an appetite for greater state involvement in expanding affordable home-ownership opportunities—evidenced by discussions with Hawaiʻi residents for the purposes of this study—there are too many barriers to the concept for it to be feasible,” the report said.

The report was produced by the Hawaiʻi Budget & Policy Center of the nonprofit Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice at the direction of lawmakers after consideration of an initial bill in 2019 that proposed establishing a program for leasehold condo development on state land.

Dubbed ALOHA Homes (Affordable Locally Owned Homes for All), the plan led by Sen. Stanley Chang is modeled after a long- running similar program operated by the government of Singapore.

“Important differences between Hawaiʻi and Singapore, upon which ALOHA Homes is based, make it impossible to replicate Singapore’s success,” the final report said.

Citing the report’s conclusion, the agency called on to carry out leasehold condo development, the Hawaiʻi Housing Finance and Development Corp., recently declined to support a pending bill for establishing the ALOHA Homes program.

“Given the results of the study, HHFDC is unable to support this bill in its current form,” Denise Iseri-Matsubara, the agency’s director, said about Senate Bill 3261 at a Feb. 3 hearing held by the Senate committees on Housing and Government Operations.

Hawaiʻi Appleseed testified that it would still be worthy to pursue a smaller scale of leasehold condo development at cost on non-ceded state land, which is in more limited supply and includes land purchased after statehood.

“The legislature’s passage of some version of ALOHA Homes would help address a significant housing need for an important segment of Hawaiʻi residents,” the organization said in written testimony.