By Dina Brown
Has the City Council done its homework on taxing the owners for vacant second homes on Oahu? It seems to me that there is no proof at all that such a bill would solve or improve the shortage of affordable housing on Oahu. Citizens have a right to know what the justification is for this bill. There is an approximate record of how many vacant homes and apartments there are on Oahu, but where are these on Oahu, and if rented, what would their approximate rents have to be to be considered affordable, and who is supposed to be responsible for determining this?
How will the continuously rising costs of managing rental units be taken into consideration? How about producing a map to show where these vacant homes are and what their approximate rents would be?
The city Permitting and Planning Department has allowed a great number of high-rises to be built in Kakaako. When one drives by at night, there are very few lights in the buildings. Most of these belong to foreign or mainland owner/investors. Why not charge these owners nonresident fees? Even so, if these were to be rented, I’m sure the amount would hardly be considered affordable for locals.
Many questions need answers:
1. Many local people with second homes are seniors, who have worked hard and invested in a second home to provide for the future of their family. I am one, and have a second home for my family when they visit as my home cannot accommodate any guests. If I rent my second home, where will my family stay?
2. With the enormous increase in homeowners’ insurance, property tax, and increasing inflation, where can a second homeowner find a local family who can afford the rent?
3. Is it our responsibility to foot the cost of affordable housing when, clearly, we have not been personally responsible for homelessness and the lack of affordable housing? How about the city putting up more affordable housing instead of punishing locals fortunate enough to have a second home, perhaps to ensure that another family member will have a home here in the future?
4. Some second homes are being left unrented because they need repairs to make them rentable and their local owners may not have the means to make repairs. Is the city willing to give grants or inexpensive loans to these owners so they can make needed repairs?
5. Where is the evidence that taxing owners for their empty second home will greatly resolve Oahu’s housing needs? Under the bill, the homeowner will have the burden of submitting evidence to verify the status of their second home, when someone using their property for an illegal purpose is not required to do so. Is this even constitutional?
6. Is the city going to supplement renters so they can afford to rent locally owned second homes being hit with additional expenses?
7. If this bill passes, and a homeowner is forced to sell the second home, how many needy families would be able to buy or even come up with the down payment for this home when Oahu’s median price is nearly $1 million?
8. How will renting out a second house for a minimum of six months — this would let the homeowner avoid paying additional property taxes, according to this bill — going to solve the housing problem?
9. Has the Council determined the additional cost of enforcing this bill?
It seems to me the Council has not done its homework and instead, has produced a bill that will do great harm to local homeowners but hardly put a dent into Oahu’s serious housing problem. The bill also, unintentionally, criminalizes second homeowners. Perhaps the City Council, which so flagrantly raised its members’ salaries so they can now afford housing, will do the same for others, so that at least these people can also afford decent housing.
Dina Brown, of Wahiawa, is a retired government administrator and former university lecturer.
