Silver Bullet Solutions For Affordable Housing - Honolulu Civil Beat


About the Author

Charles P. Wathen

Charles P. Wathen is with the Hawaii Housing Alliance.

But everyone has to give a little to help solve our problems.

A silver bullet for affordable housing is like a three-legged stool where each leg is the same length, sturdy and connected to each other. The three legs (components) are developable land, reduced regulatory barriers and money. Each component is individually important but requires the others to succeed.

While developable land is available within the urban growth boundaries, there is far more land outside of these boundaries available for housing. Making this land useful requires zoning approvals and utility infrastructure.

The cost of utilities takes money as well as the acquisition of land. Developable land is valuable and a portion can be sold to offset the cost to build affordable housing.

Regulatory barriers make housing development difficult and are full of risks. These challenges need to be minimized to aid in more housing development.

Hawaii is the most overburdened state in the country, with regulations that have accumulated over the past 40 to 50 years. Many regulations protect special interests and prevent housing development.

To reduce these barriers, an overarching new law needs to be passed that supersedes the bulk of the regulations that have been previously passed. Several states have Housing Elements — government blueprints — that require the responsibility of providing affordable housing be shared by cities and counties.

Changing the zoning of properties within the urban growth boundary and adding new land will be very controversial among NIMBY people and special interest groups who pressure elected officials to not add land for housing. Last year a small vocal group stopped the development of an affordable housing project in Kailua because local politics, city council must acknowledge and challenge these interests to solve the housing crisis.

Kaimuki homes along Sierra Drive and Wilhelmina Rise.
The good news is affordable housing is now a priority of the governor who can allocate the resources and he has appointed a chief housing officer. (Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2021)

Everyone has to give a little to help solve this problem. There is enough underutilized land that, if we add utilities, we could build ten thousand units.

Money can be generated from a special levy and closing loopholes in the tax code. The sales proceeds as described above follow the Singapore housing model to create affordable housing, this same model is commonly used at resorts throughout the U.S. to meet employee housing needs.

The governor and mayors need to make this a priority.

This is not a new strategy and is one of the most effective methods of creating an equitable society.

The cost of affordable housing is partially offset by social safety net savings. Housing First, a supportive form of homeless housing, has been documented to save money and produce remarkable success. Mixed-income housing has shown similar success.

A stable, affordable home is the foundation for individuals and families to grow and succeed. The state and counties need to work on all three legs at the same time to alleviate our housing crisis.

The governor and mayors need to make this a priority and bring all their departments together to coordinate efforts to identity land and utilities that could be developed.

All the data is available and expertise to undertake this task through county planning departments, assessor’s offices, the state Office of Planning and Sustainable Development and the Hawaii Interagency Council for Transit-Oriented Development.

Generally, government lags when it comes to developments. It should partner with the private sector but retain a financial interest that is superior.

When the state or counties provide the land, utilities and money they get to call the shots. Developers get a fee for service and the risk.

The silver bullet, as I described it, is complex and takes a lot of work and coordination. The good news is affordable housing is now a priority of the governor who can allocate the resources and he has appointed a chief housing officer.

I just hope the Legislature and counties support his efforts, are transparent and stop giving into special interest groups.

Community Voices aims to encourage broad discussion on many topics of community interest. It’s kind of a cross between Letters to the Editor and op-eds. This is your space to talk about important issues or interesting people who are making a difference in our world. Column lengths should be no more than 800 words and we need a photo of the author and a bio. We welcome video commentary and other multimedia formats. Send to news@civilbeat.org. The opinions and information expressed in Community Voices are solely those of the authors and not Civil Beat.


Read this next:

John Pritchett: Full Plate


Local reporting when you need it most

Support timely, accurate, independent journalism.

Honolulu Civil Beat is a nonprofit organization, and your donation helps us produce local reporting that serves all of Hawaii.

Contribute

About the Author

Charles P. Wathen

Charles P. Wathen is with the Hawaii Housing Alliance.


Latest Comments (0)

Stop paying the military basic housing allowance and build housing on base, not like the military is short of land, problem solved. My tax dollars jacking up my own rent!

Isambard · 8 months ago

"Last year a small vocal group stopped the development of an affordable housing project in Kailua because of local politics, city council must acknowledge and challenge these interests to solve the housing crisis."Yep, same thing happened out here in Laie. The well off NIMBYs won, so young local families continue to relocate every year to the mainland -- all while outside investors buy up the remaining housing stock that working families can't afford. Our community is changing right before our eyes -- but no worry, we stopped development and we "keeping it country"! Auwe

Kanaka · 8 months ago

Silver bullets can only be fired once. After these 10,000 units are built and occupied, what do we tell the next new-comer?

cwgoldsmith · 8 months ago

Join the conversation

About IDEAS

IDEAS is the place you'll find essays, analysis and opinion on every aspect of life and public affairs in Hawaii. We want to showcase smart ideas about the future of Hawaii, from the state's sharpest thinkers, to stretch our collective thinking about a problem or an issue. Email news@civilbeat.org to submit an idea.

Mahalo!

You're officially signed up for our daily newsletter, the Morning Beat. A confirmation email will arrive shortly.

In the meantime, we have other newsletters that you might enjoy. Check the boxes for emails you'd like to receive.

  • What's this? Be the first to hear about important news stories with these occasional emails.
  • What's this? You'll hear from us whenever Civil Beat publishes a major project or investigation.
  • What's this? Get our latest environmental news on a monthly basis, including updates on Nathan Eagle's 'Hawaii 2040' series.
  • What's this? Get occasional emails highlighting essays, analysis and opinion from IDEAS, Civil Beat's commentary section.

Inbox overcrowded? Don't worry, you can unsubscribe
or update your preferences at any time.