Hawaiʻi's $28B budget a mixed bag on homelessness, housing
While lawmakers committed more money this year to homelessness services and enforcing rules prohibiting living on sidewalks than they did last year, housing advocates say the money set aside for affordable housing development won't go far enough to allay Hawaiʻi's housing and homelessness crisis.
Advocates fear Hawaiʻi’s sick leave bill abandons workers in need
But industry groups say bills that mandate paid sick leave for workers and expand the state’s current family leave law will push prices higher.
Affordable-housing stakeholders argue city’s plan
Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s affordable housing proposal has generated mixed reviews from the development community and housing advocates.
Town Square: temporary vacation rental regulation
Two bills currently at the legislature allow transient accommodations brokers to register as tax collection agents and have explicit requirements regarding the general excise and the transient accommodations taxes. Today on Town Square we’ll consider the bills in detail.
Model home offers closer look at ADUs
It’s estimated that 120,000 lots on Oʻahu could accommodate a 400- to 800-square-foot ADU, which is supposed to be used as a long-term rental unit and not for vacation rentals.
Housing advocates build small home on Hawaiʻi capitol lawn
The 400-square-foot studio was built there to showcase the growing interest in units that can be built alongside existing homes.
Tiny homes highlight one solution to Hawaiʻi's housing shortage
Habitat for Humanity teamed up with the Hawaiʻi Appleseed to build the accessory dwelling unit to help raise awareness about ways to help ease the state's affordable housing shortage.
Accessory dwelling units in Hawaiʻi
"Power Up Hawaii" Host, Raya Salter, talks with Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Jeff Arce and Duncan MacNaughton at the State Capitol about Accessory Dwelling Units.
ADU built on State Capitol lawn to highlight statewide need for affordable housing
An accessory dwelling unit (ADU), or tiny home, has been built on the Hawaiʻi State Capitol lawn to raise awareness about statewide housing needs.
Hawaiʻi debates progressive taxes, Oʻahu ferry, green fuel
A tax bill aimed at helping the islands' most economically vulnerable would raise taxes for wealthier families while giving tax credits to those with lower incomes.
Will this be the year for tax breaks for the poor?
Bills that have sailed through the Legislature so far would boost taxes on the wealthy to pay for tax breaks for low-income families.
Should we change the minimum wage to a living wage?
Hawaiʻi’s minimum wage workers are faced with an impossible challenge: dealing with the biggest gap nationally between a state’s minimum wage and the basic earnings required to meet the local cost of living.
Town Square: debt and taxes
With Hawaiʻi’s cost of living and many families and low-income individuals living paycheck to paycheck can policies be restructured to provide fairness to all?
How to achieve economic justice under the new administration
Victor Geminiani joins Maryann Sasaki on Life in the Law to discuss methods for achieving social justice under the new administration.
New Honolulu housing aims to help artists
A publicly funded affordable housing complex in Kakaʻako will offer low-cost units to artists.
Bills to raise Hawaiʻi’s minimum wage are non-starters
A measure to establish a $15 per hour wage by 2021 did not get a hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Change in school lunch policy urged after kids denied meals
There have been times in the past where a student’s balance on their school lunch account has hit zero and the student’s lunch was taken away from them just as they sat down to eat it.
Illegal vacation rentals harming community
In tight housing markets with low vacancy rates, any reduction in supply naturally increases rents, particularly because neither the market nor the public sector can quickly add to housing stock.
The Hawaiʻi Tax Fairness Initiative and SB648
Roger Epstein and Gavin Thornton visit Community Matters with Jay Fidell to talk about Tax Fairness and the work being done by the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice on SB648 to help the working poor with working family, renters and food credits.
Working Family Tax Credit rewards hard work for low pay
We all agree self-sufficiency is better than merely depending on handouts. We all agree that a willingness to work should be encouraged. Let’s further both by passing, this legislative session, the Working Family Tax Credit.