Executive Summary

Safe, stable, affordable housing is a cornerstone of good health, economic prosperity and educational attainment. But a combination of limited housing supply and high demand has made finding a stable place to call home in Hawaiʻi an increasing challenge for many working families. Far too many Hawaiʻi renters are at risk of losing their housing through eviction because of the significant costs associated with housing. This widespread instability is fueling the state’s homelessness crisis and increasing rates of outmigration to the continent.

Currently median rents in Hawaiʻi are hovering around $2,500 per month, a 12.6 percent increase since 2019. For urban Honolulu, rents have increased by 11.1 percent over the same period, while the metro area Kahului, Maui, has increased by 15.1 percent. In 2021, 58 percent of the state’s occupied rental units were spending over 30 percent of their household income on rent. This burden makes it more difficult for working families to afford the high costs of food, transportation, healthcare and education. 

As detailed in our three-part 2022 report “Good Health Depends on Decent Housing,” lack of stable housing is often associated with poor health outcomes, including higher levels of chronic stress, increased incidence of chronic conditions like obesity and heart disease, and higher incidences of Adverse Childhood Experiences for families with children. These outcomes have significant financial and social costs that are borne by us all.

This is a major problem for Hawaiʻi, and it was only made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to widespread unemployment, particularly for service-industry workers connected to Hawaiʻi’s dominant tourism industry. These workers are often some of the lowest paid and least covered by paid sick days and other policies that keep workers healthy.

To prevent a wave of evictions that could have occurred as a result of financial hardship from the pandemic, federal, state and local authorities across the country enacted eviction moratoriums that kept millions of renters housed during the heights of the pandemic, and billions of dollars have been invested in Emergency Rental Assistance through congressional appropriation. But nearly all those protections have either expired, or have had their funds significantly spent down. The City & County of Honolulu closed applications for rental assistance on June 30, 2022. 

As the COVID-19 renter protections and assistance programs evaporate, renters in Hawaiʻi are once again facing increased challenges in maintaining stable housing. For working families with low incomes, this pressure is particularly acute, as a higher percentage of monthly income is required for these families to remain stably housed. This instability increases the likelihood of experiencing a sudden loss of housing, or exposure to the many negative health outcomes associated with a lack of good housing. 

This report explores the major public and social costs of evictions on low-income families, key interventions made to reduce the incidence of eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic, and potential policy interventions at the state level that can reduce the incidence of eviction for Hawaiʻi renters going forward. 

Building on the success of Hawaiʻi’s COVID-19 eviction protections, the Hawaiʻi Budget & Policy Center (HBPC) recommends the state:

• Create a permanent rent relief program coupled with mediation services that can resolve rent disputes before they enter the courts.

• Replicate the pre-trial eviction mediation requirements implemented by Hawaiʻi’s Act 57 pilot program.

• Implement stronger renter protections in the form of a just cause eviction law that will provide additional security for renters in Hawaiʻi’s high-cost rental market.