Editorial: Pursue ALOHA housing strategy

For decades now, among the most challenging policy issues confronting the state is its chronic undersupply of adequate housing for Hawaii’s families, with too-high price tags often cited as the motivation for out-migration and as a primary cause for our high rate of homelessness.

Among the obstacles blocking inventory expansion: geographic limitations, construction costs, lacking infrastructure and government regulation. In many cases, even when obstacles are cleared, housing designated as affordable is still out of reach for many residents.

Bold moves, such as those offered up in Senate Bill 1 — a proposal for construction of low-cost, high-density leasehold condo units on state-owned land near proposed public rail stations — are needed to tackle Hawaii’s entrenched affordable housing problem.

Last week, when the bill passed an initial Senate Committee on Housing, its architect, Sen. Stanley Chang, noted that amid the pandemic’s economic fallout, housing prices have climbed. The median single- family home resale price on Oahu hit an all-time high of $883,000 in January.

“It’s clear that the housing shortage is only getting worse, and nothing changes if nothing changes,” Chang said. To break the longstanding cycle of speculation and profit-taking that has turned affordable housing into an unattainable goal for too many, SB 1’s supporters make a compelling case to better mine public resources.

The bill’s strategy — based on a Singaporean model and dubbed ALOHA Homes (Affordable Locally Owned Homes for All) — calls for condominiums to be sold at cost with 99-year land leases. That would allow the state to recapture its development cost for one tower and then plow the money into construction of additional towers as a means to reduce the housing shortage.

According to a state report, the estimated demand for total new housing in Hawaii is upwards of 65,000 for the 10-year period ending in 2025. The chances of meeting that demand with sluggish status quo tactics are bleak, given that new housing units are being built at a pace of roughly a few thousand a year.

Pursuing ALOHA Homes on hundreds of acres of state land in or near the rail system’s transient-oriented development (TOD) areas, starting with Aloha Stadium, holds promise to turbocharge affordable housing gains.

In addition to a new, smaller stadium, the ambitious New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District is envisioned to include mixed-use retail and commercial spaces and housing units. State lawmakers and others should insist that the bulk of the housing slated for the 98-acre, government-owned site is in the affordable range.

The ALOHA Homes model is tailored for families, with common amenities like swimming pools and green areas; and schools, health care centers within walking distance. Such a vision appears to be good fit with Honolulu’s TOD intent to step up multimodal transportation.

Chang’s initial attempt to establish a state leasehold condo program — floated in 2019 — prompted lawmakers to call for a feasibility study, which was published this month. Conducted by the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law &Economic Justice, the report has mixed findings.

“While the ALOHA Homes model needs work, the concept of affordable leasehold housing has great potential to fulfill an important housing need for local residents,” the report said.

The study rightly pointed out that some key elements of the Singapore model, such as relatively low construction costs and the heavy hand of a highly centralized government, will not be replicated here. However, a variation on the model — with state interagency buy-in and robust processes to engage citizens in planning to address social and political issues, and cost constraints — is well worthy of pursuit.