State collects money from home builders for new schools. It’s never spent a dime

Still, the money sat unused. Now lawmakers appear to favor doing away with the fees altogether.

They say the fees, which must be paid by individuals building homes as well as developers, drive up the cost of housing in a state where it’s already expensive. The fee ranges from roughly $2,000 to $5,000 per house, depending on its location and size.

“When you’re collecting these fees from folks who are barely able to afford, a lot of times, these houses, and you put it into a fund and it never gets spent, then you really have to question it,” said Sen. Troy Hashimoto, who serves on the Senate Housing Committee.

The bill has passed through the House and will be considered at a joint meeting of the Senate Education and the Ways and Means committees on Friday.

The core problem, said Arjuna Heim, director of housing policy at the economic justice advocacy group Hawaiʻi Appleseed, is that the program fails to generate substantial revenue and yet is a burden on homeowners. There aren’t enough large housing projects under construction to bring in enough money to actually help build schools. But homeowners end up paying the costs when they build on their own or buy in a development.