State fund eyed for workforce housing subsidies
A variety of other state and city programs provide financial incentives for developers to build housing for moderate-income residents, and in some cases such housing is a requirement for a portion of large projects. Yet affordable-housing advocates say more subsidized housing is needed for people who, despite moderate incomes, still can’t afford market-priced homes.
Susan Le, senior affordable-housing policy analyst for the nonprofit Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, told the House Finance Committee during a Feb. 25 hearing on HB432 that someone in Hawaiʻi has to earn 200 percent of the median income to afford a median-priced home.
“Our workforce is struggling,” she said. “That includes firefighters, teachers, health care workers. And without subsidies, these projects don’t work out because we have the highest land costs, construction costs and regulatory process in the nation.”