Supporters urge lawmakers to back community land trusts, warn of capital and timing hurdles

Supporters of community land trusts testified Feb. 7 before the House Committee on Housing that the model preserves permanently affordable housing but requires tailored financing and administrative design to work at scale.

Autumn Ness, executive director of Lahaina Community Land Trust, said the trust used $15,000,000 in county reimbursable grants as initial funding and had to cobble together a below-market line of credit and a bank partner to move quickly in a fast-paced real estate market. "Bring your interest rate down to 2%, which is really, really low, but that's still money that's not gonna go into our program work," Ness said.

Ness said short repayment windows for interim capital have prevented timely acquisitions. "Depending on the funding source, getting the money back from the funding source to repay this line of credit could take months," she said. "A year is likely, in a lot of cases, not enough. So a 2 year repayment terms would be really, really useful, at least." She urged the committee to design access controls so land trusts can move at the speed of the market, for example by preapprovals or clear access pathways to lines of credit.

Peter Savio, a local affordable-housing developer who also testified in favor of a broad trust model, argued supply-focused solutions have repeatedly failed. "We have failed at providing affordable housing over the last 60 years. We're gonna continue to fail because everybody looks at supply as the solution," Savio said. He described a statewide or master trust as a way to centralize programs, stabilize rules for lenders and appraisers, and preserve affordability in perpetuity.

Several community land trusts and county housing offices registered support in writing or on Zoom, including Hawaii Community Assets, Kohala Community Land Trust, Lahaina Community Land Trust and others. Kohala asked to be added to the bill preamble; the committee approved that change in its recommended HD1.

Why it matters

Proponents told the committee community land trusts can keep units affordable long-term by removing land from speculative markets and applying resale controls. They also warned that the cost of interim capital and long reimbursement timelines can cause missed acquisition opportunities.

What the committee did

The committee recommended HB833 as HD1 with technical amendments, a defective date and an instruction to add Kohala Community Land Trust to the preamble; it also directed that appropriation figures be referenced in the committee report rather than left in the bill text. The recommendation was adopted.

Clarifying details recorded in testimony include Lahaina CLT's $15,000,000 of reimbursable county grants, the trust's negotiated line-of-credit interest rate reduced to about 2%, and the request for at least two-year repayment windows for interim financing. Witnesses requested preapproval pathways so land trusts can close acquisitions quickly.

Next steps

HB833 will be reported out of committee with the adopted HD1 language and the preamble amendment. Committee staff and HHFDC will carry forward the technical edits; appropriation amounts referenced during the hearing will appear in the committee report.