Editorial: City gets going on affordable homes

The city has taken a welcome and significant first step, poised to accelerate the pace of affordable housing development around Oahu over the next five years.

The number of promised units, right out of the gate, is encouraging: 972, in six projects aimed to help seniors and other lower-income populations.

There are many complications with such developments — from the not-in-my-backyard (“NIMBY”) push-back that so often comes, to the high hurdles developers must surmount to assemble the financing required. And the economy currently suggests that smooth financial sailing is anything but assured.

So the administration of Mayor Rick Blangiardi, who announced the projects Tuesday, will have its hands full keeping these endeavors on track, as it’s rightly promising to do.

To start with, the city is proposing a charter amendment to increase the share of property tax revenue that is added to its Affordable Housing Fund, boosting the percentage from a half to a full percentage point. This would double the fund from its current $7 million-$8 million annual allotment to $15 million-$16 million.

This makes sense, given the dearth of needed housing on Oahu, and throughout the state, for decades. The deficit in housing units accessible to lower-income groups in particular has been made even worse in an inflationary climate, with rents climbing along with every other household expense. Voters should endorse the increase in funding when the amendment appears on general election ballots in November.

Affordable housing is a difficult sell to commercial developers, so there generally must be an array of public financing of this sort. For these projects, Honolulu is pairing with a nonprofit development partner qualifying for grants from a range of sources.

The city fund is giving the six projects a total of nearly $28.2 million. These awards are part of a $40 million fund allocation the city made in December to renters earning up to 60% of the area median income; the units would remain at that affordability level for 60 years.

The balance of the $40 million will be combined with the $7.2 million the Honolulu City Council allocated in this past budget, and additional project awards will be solicited this fall, according to the administration.

A look at the nonprofit partners, the grant amounts and the affordable units they are developing:

>> Hui Kauhale Inc., a division of EAH Housing, $6 million, 140 units for qualifying senior citizens, at the location of the old Aiea Sugar Mill.

>> Hawaii Assisted Housing Inc., $5 million for 302 units at Halawa View II , and $3.9 million for 40 in the repurposed Hocking Hale in Chinatown.

>> Hawaiian Community Development Board, $4.9 million, Ohana Hale in McCully, 180 units.

>> Hawaii Assisted Housing Inc., $3.5 million, Waialua Mill Camp site, 268 units.

>> AHED Foundation, $4.8 million, Kailua Lofts, 42 units.

It is reassuring that the city drew 16 applicants for these awards. The challenge ahead is to keep up this momentum. A 2019 study by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism put Oahu’s need between 2020 and 2030 at 21,000 additional housing units.

The city must find sizeable pockets of housing capacity around Oahu, especially for those who are priced out of most of the rental market. More aggressively pursuing the largely unfulfilled promise of transit-oriented development along the rail alignment is especially crucial.

Most importantly, residents themselves have a key responsibility in accommodating income diversity within their community. With the housing shortage at a crisis point, the question becomes: If not in your backyard, then where?