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DPP reports permit backlog improvements but commercial reviews and 'Bill 7' projects still face capacity constraints
Summary
DPP told the committee that HNL Build onboarding produced a spike in applications in late 2025 but that prescreen and residential review times have improved; the department reported 59 Bill 7 projects (1,752 potential units, 189 added to housing stock), ongoing grants for pre- and post-construction subsidies, and a commercial-review bottleneck mostly in electrical engineering.
The Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) provided an extensive briefing on the building permit backlog and the status of projects created under the Bill 7 program.
DPP Director Diane Takuchi Apuna said the department now pulls permit data from the HNL Build portal (launched Aug. 4, 2025) and that the platform produced a spike in applications in September and October 2025 as stakeholders adapted to the new system. DPP presented multi-year charts showing permits created versus issued across all permit types and noted improvements in residential review workflows: prescreen averages about 13 days and residential code review…
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