Housing in Hawai‘i — the affordability and availability of it, and how to build more — has long been discussed.
But in its efforts to expand housing opportunities across O‘ahu, the City and County of Honolulu’s Office of Housing has released a new, three-year strategic housing plan it's calling a "bold initiative."
Kevin Auger, executive director of the city's Office of Housing, told a crowd gathered at the Mayor's Office for a press conference Wednesday that the housing plan provides a "roadmap" that outlines actions the city will take to facilitate the production of housing on O‘ahu.
"But more than that, it represents a fundamental shift towards a proactive housing delivery model that emphasizes execution, public-private collaboration and strategic investment," he said.
Auger said these efforts include driving and activating transit oriented development, or TOD; partnering to expand housing production; engineering creative financing solutions to expand housing supply; reorganizing the city's housing functions; and a data-driven review of housing policy and process improvements.
Here are a few takeaways from the city and the housing plan, which can be found in its entirety here:
— Barriers to housing production in Honolulu include limited land; regulatory "insufficiencies and inefficiencies;" high development costs; financing and development approval processes that are unpredictable and lengthy; and challenges for specific types of development, such as accessory dwelling units and ‘ohana units.
— Because of low housing production, the plan says most low-income households are cost burdened, or pay more than 30% of their income on housing costs, but that's also seen at higher income levels. Additionally, overcrowding, or the number of households with more than one occupant per room, is higher than other similar counties.
— The city said in an announcement Wednesday that transit oriented development along the nearly 20-mile Skyline rail system offers opportunities for high-density, mixed-use communities.
"Activating TOD districts, that have been adopted by the City Council, provides opportunities for higher density development to deliver more affordable housing in TOD areas," the plan notes.
— Meanwhile, the area around the Kūwili rail station in Iwilei "presents a transformative opportunity for an underserved community," the announcement noted.
"The nexus of city and state land control in this area creates an exceptional opportunity to activate an important TOD district and deliver thousands of housing units in a world-class, mixed-use redevelopment," the plan says.
In December 2023, the city acquired the former First Hawaiian Bank building at 445 N. King St. and in January 2024 it acquired the Iwilei Center, which the plan says will "form the catalyst of its redevelopment and revitalization efforts around the Kūwili Rail Station in Iwilei, consistent with the Downtown TOD Neighborhood Plan." More information on those acquisitions can be found online here.
— The city aims to partner with developers to create housing and mixed-use developments on city lands, the plan says, also noting that the city Office of Housing and Department of Land Management have identified a number of city properties that can be "put into production immediately."
Just this week, the Department of Land Management issued a request for qualifications to redevelop four underutilized city-owned properties in Honolulu into affordable rental housing: 1615 Ala Wai Blvd., 436 ‘Ena Road, 130 S. Beretania St. and 1421 Pensacola St.
— The city intends to consolidate its housing programs under a proposed Department of Housing and Land Management, a restructuring it says will "improve efficiency, accelerate project deliver and enhance coordination of housing initiatives."
— The city also intends to review housing programs and policies, with recommendations expected later this year "to optimize land use, increase home ownership opportunities and enhance predictability."
Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
