Editorial: Big ideas needed for more housing

The image is scary, especially to residents who remember how Honolulu once looked, and still harbor hopes of keeping some vestige of that small-city ambience.

The drawing, presented at a recent conference held at the state Capitol, depicted a massive condominium cluster, consisting of double-decked high-rise towers strung together, linked by sky-high promenades. It was the design for Pinnacle@Duxton, a public-housing condo complex that has been developed in Singapore, stretching for seven city blocks.

The density of such a project, some 67,500 units, is visually startling and would pose a considerable strain on infrastructure, perhaps an insurmountable hurdle. Anything Hawaii contemplates may not be quite of this scale.

Still, state and city leaders will have to start thinking big, reimagining whatever is built to address Oahu’s chronic affordable-housing crisis. The anticipated redevelopment of Aloha Stadium, for starters, would be a potential opportunity where a project of this type, one that well exceeds the existing height and density limits, should be contemplated.

The incremental allotments of a few units here and there, carved out to meet affordable-housing requirements, are, simply put, small-ball. Filling the gap in the supply will always elude the government, at this pace. So it was good to see that state Sen. Stanley Chang and others are starting to think outside the proverbial box. The lawmaker recently gave the presentation on Singapore’s longstanding government program to provide housing, one that does have merit for Honolulu’s urban core.

The key to its success for Hawaii is that the islands share the same problem as the Asian city-state: stratospheric land costs.

Under Chang’s proposal, the state could bond-finance the construction of the project and then sell the units leasehold, cutting the price tag for the condos to about $300,000 with a 99-year land lease. The state would pay off its loan with proceeds from the sales, meaning the taxpayer wouldn’t be left holding the bag.

There are, without a doubt, trade-offs that would have to be accepted in this arrangement — including the undeniably imposing appearance of the project.

However, the need for a reality check is plain. In July, the state Office of Planning issued a report to the Legislature titled “Affordable Rental Housing Report and Ten-Year Plan.” In it, Gov. David Ige noted that a “whole-community response” was required to build the 22,500 affordable rentals by 2026 recommended in statute. That’s only eight years away.

Granted, these are units for purchase, not the rentals that those most in need of housing would require. The population earning 60-80 percent of area median income is widely recognized as those most critically in need of housing, and they are generally in the market for rentals. However, adding to the stock of affordable homes for purchase would free up more of the existing rental stock. That’s because the leasehold purchase term keeps the units within range of some who are now occupying rental housing,

The second drawback, of course, is that leasehold model. Hawaii labored to get beyond the dominance of leasehold ownership and most assumed the state had moved beyond that point.

The Land Reform Act was passed in 1967 to break up the concentration of land in a few hands. When the law finally was upheld by the courts, it enabled more homeowners to purchase the fee.

Leasehold ownership lacks that perpetual security for the purchaser, but when the state reclaims the units in 99 years, a settlement may be negotiated with the owners. At least there would be long-term housing provisions for a large enough number of people to begin closing the supply gap.

If nothing else, this proposal matches the magnitude of the problem — something that’s been lacking in every other plan to date.