Let’s be honest. People are tired of hearing about Hawai‘i’s housing crisis.

We sit in traffic for hours every day. Our friends work multiple jobs to survive in the islands. Our relatives move to the mainland. People are tired of hearing about a problem that’s existed for decades.

Problem fatigue is a serious problem in Hawai‘i because it dismisses the problem. Our housing shortage has become normalized — and that’s a problem in itself.

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Even if Hawai‘i’s residents didn’t know the statistics, they already know the conclusion. Unaffordable housing has led us to a sobering fact: half of young people under 35 are thinking about leaving Hawai‘i because of housing. That’s the cost of inaction.

Civil Beat’s Matthew Leonard recently reported on the University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization’s newly released fact book adds to the echoes of alarm.

Meanwhile, the Hawai‘i Housing Finance and Development Corp. has released the 2024 Hawai‘i Housing Planning Study, a report that re-confirms the depths of our chronic housing shortage.

“Hawaiʻi benefits from a strong sense of urgency felt across communities and all levels of government,” the report argues. “However, the challenges intersect in such ways that despite the eager efforts of many, the housing gap is widening, the barriers are deepening, and the impacts are becoming more dire.”

We Know The Problem. What Are The Solutions?

If there were any lingering doubts about whether people understand the severity of Hawai‘i’s housing crisis, the 2025 Hawai‘i Housing Survey has silenced them.

Conducted across the islands in March, the 2025 Hawai‘i Housing Survey explains how high housing costs are a personal burden for thousands of families.

This survey is not unique. Aloha United Way and Holomua Collaborative gauged the sentiments of Hawai‘i’s residents to confirm that hundreds of thousands of residents are struggling. Housing Hawai‘i’s Future’s own survey, however, was notable for a few reasons.

We needed to pinpoint how residents felt about the depths of the housing shortage.

We found that the sentiment was near-universal. It goes beyond a person’s age, race, geographic location and income level.

Approximately 91% of all polled residents statewide view the cost of purchasing a home as a major problem. And 83% express the same concern for rental housing.

Young residents — the source of our movement — feel the heightened urgency. Younger generations (Generation Alpha, Generation Z, and Millennials) are at a critical inflection point: should they stay or should they go?

Given that Hawai‘i is the fastest-aging state in the United States, this should only further raise the alarm. A fast-aging state needs a young, agile workforce to steward our state.

In all, everyone knows there is a problem. More importantly, however, we wanted to capture their views on potential solutions.

A Solutions-Oriented Approach

Beyond the frustration, there is an earnest, pragmatic desire for progress. People see government as a mechanism for fostering change.

More than 4 out of 5 residents (87%) want lawmakers to make housing the state’s legislative priority. They expect serious solutions.

Across Hawai‘i, there is an appetite for programs that incentivize the preservation (and construction) of housing for residents, not out-of-state investors.

More specifically, residents want programs that prioritize local occupancy in new workforce housing. People support restrictions that prioritize residents without unnecessary restrictions, like
79% of polled residents would support a “locals-only” housing market built for Hawai‘i’s residents.

More notably, half of homeowners (51%) would consider selling their homes at a discount to a local buyer, even if they received a higher bid from a competing, outside buyer.

Deed restrictions would create a locals-only housing market by restricting housing owner-occupancy (and potential tenants) to a specific, constitutionally defined pool of people. When done right, they tether housing costs to the buying power of a local resident, not the whims of an international housing market.

Mechanisms like the deed restriction proposals that faltered at the Legislature this year (House Bill 739 and House Bill 740) could serve as models for such schemes, even at the county level.

Among younger residents, there is an appetite for bold, inclusive, future-oriented planning. Besides their support for a locals-only housing market (57% of all individuals under 35 support this proposal), people want to see streamlined state approvals for affordable housing projects, concerted funding for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and more housing near transit lines.

The end result is the expansion of more affordable housing opportunities for residents, greater density and affordability in urban communities (and less sprawl), and vibrant Native Hawaiian communities across our islands.

History provides ample precedent. All of this is possible. Does any of this sound too difficult?

These solutions are tangible. They merit more conversation and debate by policy-makers. To house Hawai‘i’s future, we must be ready to reform, invest and build.