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Hawaii is suffering from a statewide shortage of affordable housing, and working families are bearing the brunt of it. They were promised relief at the beginning of the legislative session by a group of legislators, business people and representatives of nonprofit agencies, who rolled out bills that would benefit working families by addressing affordable housing and three other issues. But things haven’t turned out as promised — and not just because of the Legislature’s forced recess due to the coronavirus crisis.
The most recent version of the affordable housing bill, Senate Bill 3104, SD 2, is counterproductive and may well result in luxury housing being built instead of affordable housing. The bill is particularly troublesome because it would use state land and $200 million in public funds to pay for infrastructure.
The original version of the bill, SB 3104, would have priced housing for families earning between 80% and 140% of the area median income (AMI). At 140% AMI a family of four earns $175,000 and can pay $3,750 a month in rent. That is clearly outside the range of affordable housing, so the bill was amended.
The amended version of the bill, SB 3104, SD 1, limited the price of the housing to what would be feasible for families earning 80% AMI. At 80% AMI a family of four earns $100,000 annually and can pay $2,500 a month in rent. That is closer to affordable housing, but not quite there.
That version of the bill was amended to create SB 3104, SD 2. But instead of bringing the AMI down further, it removed the price limit for the housing completely. In place of a maximum price, this version of the bill gives “preferences for lower-priced housing that is designed to address the State’s housing shortage.” This vague language is reminiscent of Kakaako.
The laws governing the development of Kakaako encourage affordable housing, but the laws are not specific. Developers have been able to stretch the vague Kakaako language to allow them to build an abundance of luxury housing, with only a meager amount of affordable housing.
To make things worse, much of the luxury housing in Kakaako is not even owned by Hawaii residents. Many condo units sit empty for most of the year because they were purchased by rich people from the mainland and Asia who live there for only a few weeks a year. Kakaako has been a disaster in terms of building affordable housing, but we should at least learn from it.
SB 3104, SD 2, which contains the vague housing language, commits state land and $200 million in public funds for infrastructure. When state land and public funds are used, the housing should be for working families. 37% of Hawaii’s working families do not earn enough to cover the basic necessities because of Hawaii’s high cost of living, according to a recent study issued by the Aloha United Way (“ALICE: A Study of Financial Hardship in Hawaii”).
Hawaii’s struggling working families include retail salespersons, waiters and waitresses, cashiers, administrative assistants, janitors, housekeepers, landscapers, teaching assistants and mechanics — and they are only a paycheck or two away from homelessness.
Most people in Hawaii consider $1,500 a month for a two-bedroom apartment to be affordable, according to a recent survey by Pacific Resource Partnership. That’s what we should be trying to achieve when building affordable housing.
When we, the taxpayers, give away precious state land for housing and $200 million from our public funds for infrastructure, the result should be homes that are affordable for working families who are struggling just to keep a roof over their heads. Public resources should be reserved for truly affordable housing.
Evelyn Aczon Hao is president of Faith Action for Community Equity (Faith Action), which includes 18 congregations, a union, health center, housing association and advocacy organizations.
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