Collaborative steps on homelessness must be sustained

This past weekend of Oct. 16-18 may have signaled the beginning of the collaboration on affordable housing and homelessness that will lead to the solving of Honolulu’s deep crises.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s policy of “compassionate disruption” joined with the support of Gov. David Ige’s leadership team seem to have worked to disband the Kakaako encampment, with support of homeless service providers and shelters.

And City Council Chairman Ernie Martin’s op-ed points out that now effort can be made to address similar encampments in all Council districts, with collaboration between state and city administrations, legislators at all levels and community and business leaders as well (“Many approaches needed to counter Honolulu’s crisis of homelessness,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Oct. 18).

Faith and labor leaders should be added to the list, as well as financial leaders. Such collaboration made possible the unanimous Council passage of the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) bill, which is an expansion of the “ohana zoning” policy that could add 250 affordable units of rental housing a year and is already off to a quick start. This kind of collaboration is vital to solve our crises. The passage of the ADU legislation shows that Honolulu can generate the needed political will.

Martin also mentions the efforts of the mayor and some Council members’ support for an Affordable Housing Requirement (AHR) Policy, which would require developers to build a percentage of their units as affordable, either for rent or for sale in exchange for a package of incentives such as lower parking requirements, density and height bonuses, possibly land, and funding mechanisms, many of which are already in place.

The concept of TOD (transit oriented development) is the prime mechanism to pull all these things together. This should also result in better neighborhoods at all the train stations. AHR would also require that affordable units would be affordable for 30 years, three times longer than required under current policy, allowing for inventory to grow. Where city land and funds are used would result in 60 years of affordability.

All of this is a very tall order and will be costly and especially will require collaboration from all sectors of our society. The residents of Honolulu have invested and will continue to invest billions of dollars in rail, sewer and water infrastructure to maintain the very good quality of life which we have.

If affordable housing is not part of the bargain for us, many of us will be forced to leave Honolulu in favor of wealthy outside investors. We worked long and hard to create the Honolulu we love dearly and for which we invested our lives. We deserve better than to end up on the streets or pushed out entirely.

Our political, labor, financial, community, media and faith leaders must collaborate in the face of this crisis. It is good to see the emerging signs of this collaboration, even as we know that disagreements will inevitably happen.

We must rise above them and make housing truly affordable. There must be a laser focus on the production of permanent affordable rentals. It will take several years to catch up on the backlog. Homelessness will get worse in the meantime, but we must summon the political will and discipline to do it.