Column: Rent stabilization may ease housing woes

To address the high cost of living in Oahu, rent stabilization policies should be implemented to provide stability for tenants.

For the past several years, Oahu has experienced a surge in rent increases, making it more and more challenging for residents to secure affordable housing. By 2022, both apartment and condo renters on Oahu experienced rent increases, with rates varying on the size of their rentals. On average, they paid 17%-22% more than they did in 2017. Over this five-year period, the monthly rent for a studio apartment had surged by 25% (equivalent to $329), reaching a total of $1,646.

Many Hawaii residents are forced to work 2-plus jobs to keep up with the rising costs, but not even that is enough at times. This from a 2021 University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization report, which said: “In October, 20% of Hawaii residents had missed their most recent mortgage or rent payment, or they expected to miss their next payment.”

There are many factors that have/are contributing to rising costs, such as the lack of land, limited housing, the strong presence of tourism here in Oahu, and even the COVID-19 pandemic. As reported by Janis Meierdiercks in “Rents Soar Across Hawaii, With No End in Sight” (Hawaii Business magazine, July 11): ¨Rents for apartments and condos on Oahu jumped during the COVID-19 pandemic, but unlike the recent dip in for-sale home prices, rents have not backed down.”

However, many of these issues tie into even larger ones and are unlikely to change anytime soon, so how can we directly tackle this problem?

With rent stabilization.

In 2021, a bill was proposed with the intention of stabilizing rent and keeping landlords accountable. If enacted, there would have been a limit to how much a landlord could increase their rent every 12 months or at the end of a lease (whichever time period is longer). This is so that they cannot take advantage of the limited housing market and increase their rent because of negative cash flow from refinancing or purchasing the unit/property.

It also would have banned landlords from increasing the rent on the same tenant more than two times in a single year. This would have provided stability and consistency for tenants without causing the landlords to lose profit (if not by their own decisions).

As with most things, there is a lot of controversy when it comes to rent policies. However, a lot of the opposition comes from the business perspective. Landlords can see smaller profits, and regulations can discourage people from investing in real estate in certain cities. Real estate investor David Bitton explained that, ¨Currently, Hawaii doesn’t apply any rent control policies, meaning that the landlord may charge any amount of rent that they consider appropriate. On the other hand, the landlord may increase the rent as much as they want.”

There is a lack of accountability, and we are seeing it through those that take advantage of the limited housing in Oahu — because even if landlords have a high turnover rate, it’s more than likely that there will be another tenant willing to pay the higher price.

Rent regulations would be a big change, but as of 2022, there are seven states with some sort of residential rent control in place: California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Maine, Oregon and Minnesota, with Oregon setting the example in 2019.

In Hawaii, community is everything. We should be taking care of one another, and prioritizing the people. While rent stabilization policies are something that Hawaii has never had before, it is something worth trying. One of the biggest issues in Hawaii right now is the housing market, and if we can take just one step to making life here more affordable and sustainable, let’s take that chance.

Katy-Lin Frigillana is a senior at Hawaii Technology Academy.