It’s undeniable that we are facing a housing crisis. On Maui and certainly on Oahu, there just are not enough places to live and the cost of living continues to rise. Many now expect that working class and middle-class families will be priced out.

Most folks get it.

The median price of a single-family home last month on Maui came to $1.3 million. On Oahu it’s not too far behind where the median is around $1 million.

There certainly is a need to build more affordable homes across the state as quickly as possible.

Which is why House Bill 2328 aimed at converting the Bethel Block between downtown Honolulu and Chinatown into affordable rental units is strange.

The bill gives the Hawaii Public Housing Authority the power to acquire the property, buy the buildings on the block, and “plan, design, and construct any improvements necessary to use the parcels for affordable housing purposes.” 

So far it’s passed through two of the three committees and is awaiting review by the House Finance Committee. But even if it does make it through, and if the state does acquire the Bethel Block in the name of affordable housing, more obstacles lie ahead.

The Bethel Block stands between Bethel Street and the Fort Street promenade on one end, and between Pauahi Street and the narrow Chaplain Lane on the other. While it is not located within Chinatown’s historic district, the buildings have a long and rich history.

The three-story building on the corner of Fort Street and Chaplain Lane is a grand, stone building that used to be the Blaisdell Hotel. It got its name from Cora Blaisdell, whose grandson, Neal, went on to become a moderate Republican and mayor of Honolulu in the 1950s and ‘60s.

When the Blaisdell opened in 1913, it was Honolulu’s “Newest and Most Modern Hotel” with a telephone in every room. It featured a birdcage elevator with brass-colored trim, dim lights and required a living, breathing, elevator operator to run the machine up and down the building. The elevator, complete with an operator, is still around, making it the last of its kind in the state.

Over the years the low rent and different owners of the Blaisdell Hotel and the other buildings on the block brought a variety of businesses and tenants. In the 1980s and ‘90s, it was the headquarters of the Gay Community Center and the American Civil Liberties Union.

This was the nerve center for gay activists in Hawaii. It’s where same-sex couples planned on getting their marriage license and strategized on the legal challenge that eventually made its way to the Hawaii Supreme Court in 1993. That made us the first state to recognize same-sex marriage — a good 22 years before the Supreme Court of the United States came around to it in 2015.

These days, the Bethel Block attracts an eclectic group. There’s a rehearsal space for punk rock and metal bands who practice on weeknights. Next to that is Proof Social Club, a small bar tucked away on Chaplain Lane that features feminist art shows, live music and on most nights is a quiet place to have a drink. Around the corner on the other end of the block is Scarlet, a nightclub and home of a regular drag show.  

In short, the block fits perfectly among the art galleries, bars and theaters in the space between Chinatown and downtown. But all of that may be a thing of the past if the state turns it into residential units.

It would be a terrible loss for the city. The Blaisdell Hotel and the other buildings along Bethel Street including the modernist Ohia Building built in 1961 and the Whitlow building from 1952 are considered “historic property” by law.

They could also qualify under various state and national registers because of their historical status and architecture. 

That means before the state can renovate, refurbish or even tear down and build affordable housing, the project proposal would have to be sent over to the State Historic Preservation Division for review and “written concurrence.” And that is likely to slow down any renovation process dramatically.

Which is what makes the Bethel Block such a curious choice for affordable housing in the middle of an acute housing crisis.

It’s true that Hawaii must do something about the severe shortage of affordable housing in the short term. Too many people are feeling the squeeze and are looking to leave the state for a more affordable cost of living. Politicians have made their promises to deliver affordable housing projects stat. Developers, contractors, labor unions, and others looking to profit from the building project are certainly on board too.

But turning those buildings on the Bethel Block into affordable housing will not only displace the tenants, artists and businesses, but no affordable housing will be coming to the area any time soon. And all the while, a privately owned underdeveloped parking lot sits right across the street.

It’s deeply troubling. The housing crisis is certainly one of the great issues of our generation here. As my colleague, Naka Nathaniel, recently put it, “we seem close to the threshold of becoming a place where only the wealthy thrive.”

We must do something about it, but not at the expense of destroying historic spaces where businesses, artists, and local culture already thrive.