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Candidates press ideas from empty‑homes surcharges to commercial‑to‑residential conversions to address housing shortage
Summary
At the forum, candidates offered a range of housing proposals including an empty‑homes surcharge, tax and zoning changes, converting commercial buildings to residential use and reforming affordable‑housing rules so subsidies target local residents.
Candidates at the forum identified housing supply and pricing as the district's central challenge and proposed several remedies. Kim K. Iwamoto urged an empty‑homes surcharge and said "40 of private land in Hawaii is owned by out of state investors... we have over 76,000 empty homes across the state," framing an empty‑homes tax as a revenue source for housing vouchers.
Other candidates proposed facilitating conversions of commercial buildings into residential units, streamlining Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) approvals, and tightening definitions and enforcement around what counts as "affordable housing" so public subsidies serve local residents rather than market‑rate units. Candidates differed on emphasis — some favored supply‑side measures and tax reforms, others stressed procedural fixes and increased enforcement of developer commitments.
