Hawaii’s staggering housing costs are again becoming a hot issue.
National reports show that, “The median price for a typical home in Hawaii is $848,926, more than twice the national average. Hawaii also has one of the country’s lowest homeownership rates, with 59% of its residents owning their homes.”
That comes from the national real estate internet source, Zillow. While we worry about this political gleaning, the campaign season is finally heating up.
Housing is a hardy political perennial when Hawaii voters are going to pick a new governor. As far back as 1970, the handwringing because of the high price of Hawaii housing dominated the pivotal Democratic primary race between Lt. Gov. Tom Gill and incumbent Gov. John Burns.
Fifty-two years ago, Burns, worried about his trailing poll numbers heading into a dicey primary race, announced a housing task force to be “an all-out attack on the housing crisis,” as Tom Coffman wrote in his book on the 1970 race, “Catch a Wave.”
That plan called for tax breaks for renters, restrictions on resale of state-sponsored housing projects, money for mortgage help, the experimental waiver of building and zoning codes, plus a variety of financial aid to housing developers.
If any of that worked it wasn’t for long, because now, a half-century later, Hawaii goes into another gubernatorial season with the leading Democrats running for governor still offering plans to tinker with zoning codes, fast-track state housing plans and declaring emergencies.
In the first major debate of the election year, those candidates for governor — Lt. Gov. Josh Green, Vicky Cayetano and U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele — immediately jumped on the housing issue.
They were answering questions posed by Ryan Kalei Tsuji and Yunji de Nies on the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program.
Cayetano said her housing plan calls for rent to own for a designated workforce, and affordable rentals to cut through the bureaucracy to accelerate affordable housing.
Green said he would “declare a state of emergency so that we can fast-track and accelerate the process to build affordable housing.”
Kahele called for building 10,000 homes in the Halawa area, and dropping state plans for construction of the planned state sports stadium in that area.
At the same time the trio are polishing their promises, state Rep. Sylvia Luke, chairwoman of the House Finance Committee and a candidate for lieutenant governor, was saying in a speech that this year’s Legislature gave “unprecedented funding — close to $1 billion, which will result in new rental and for-sale affordable housing throughout our state.”
Still, lots of promises fill the air, but they won’t protect your family from the rain.
Some sort of a reality check is needed for the hopes and dreams of housing plans, which for decades have not yet materialized.
Meanwhile, among the real perks of winning the race for governor is the opportunity to move into the state’s gubernatorial mansion next to Washington Place — so for someone, becoming governor means four years of the best public housing in the state.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
