Issue Position: Affordable Housing

Issue Position

The idea of an "affordable" house has been dangled in front of homeowners in Hawaiʻi since statehood, yet none of the suggestions to reduce the cost of housing -- which can only come from more supply -- have been adopted. Instead, there are plans to build high-rise, government-subsidized housing, such as those supported by the Singapore all-government project of the current incumbent. The government is not capable of properly managing housing, as evidenced by the Kuhio Park Terrace project, Mayor Wright Housing, other government developed housing, and their inability to achieve their goal.

Hawaiʻi continues to go in the wrong direction, failing to make housing more attainable. Other solutions, such as zoning changes, regulatory reductions, or elimination of improvement costs for developers and other technologies, have been ignored. Instead of just focusing only on the cost of housing, more should be done to accomplish the other things, noted above, that will result in increased family income and the ability to pay more for housing. I propose opening government land, changing zoning, and reducing or eliminating the rules forcing the building of new schools in new neighborhoods, considering those are already budgeted items. This will increase supply and price diversity for an overall housing market.

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