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Governor seeks $500 million for housing, renews call to curb short-term rentals and cites DHHL investments
Summary
Governor Josh Green outlined housing investments and regulatory reforms he says have accelerated approvals for affordable units and asked the Legislature to fund major housing items, while urging counties to act on short-term rental reform.
Governor Josh Green urged the Legislature to continue the housing reforms of the past two years and requested more than $500 million in the executive budget for housing initiatives, the governor said during a joint address to the Legislature.
Why it matters: Hawaii faces a statewide housing shortage that the governor said has driven workforce shortages in education and health care and is tied to population loss.
The governor said exemptions in two emergency housing proclamations helped accelerate approval or construction of nearly 7,000 affordable units and that state, county and private projects now total more than 62,000 units across 257 projects planned over the next decade. He said 13,000 units should be completed this year, with 10,000 more next year, and that the state is tracking 46,000 new affordable units in the pipeline.
Budget requests and projects the governor highlighted include $250 million for the Rental Housing Revolving Fund, $30 million for phase two of a 99-year leasehold program on Oahu, and $62 million for infrastructure to support a University of Hawaii–West Oahu University Village near the rail. He also requested $68 million for redevelopment of the Mayor Wright housing site, which he said would add more than 2,000 housing units for working families.
The governor called attention to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), citing Act 279, which he said appropriated $600 million to reduce DHHL’s wait list and support a five-year plan to deliver more than 7,500 homes and lots for native Hawaiians. He listed Pu‘uhona in Wailuku and a 278-unit project on a former bowling alley site in Honolulu as examples.
On short-term rentals, the governor said tens of thousands of housing units are effectively removed from the long-term market because short-term rentals typically earn more and that 52% of them are owned by nonstate residents. He said counties were empowered last year to reform short-term rental rules and urged them to continue converting illegal or inappropriate short-term rentals back to long-term housing.
The governor did not propose specific statutory language for further short-term rental limits in the speech.
