Development

... members of the Pukalani Community Church of the Nazarene  spent eight months building four homes for residents displaced by Maui’s August 2023 wildfires ....

... March 6, marked the halfway point of the Hawaii's 2025 legislative session, which is when the bills that are still alive cross over from the House chamber to the Senate and vice versa ....

... HB422 would abolish the school impact fee program and transfer its balance to the School Facilities Special Fund ....

... The Hawaii Legislature has reached its halfway point and many promising bills in the areas of housing, taxation and economic freedom are still alive ....

... litigation is becoming an increasingly significant source of uncertainty and risk in Hawai‘i’s housing market ....

... control of water is the enviros new tool to block affordable housing and force you out of Hawaii ....

“...Hawaii doesn’t have a scarcity of land. We build housing and urban development on only 5% of the land mass....”

... OHA introduced three failed bills SB534, HB605, and SB211 this legislative session ....

... especially for homeless individuals with a history of mental health, memory or brain injury challenges ....

... The report says the fees are not needed, are likely unconstitutional, have never been spent, and are driving up Hawaii housing costs ....

... You might not have realized this, but Hawaii residents are living in multiple, continual states of emergency ....

... In total, 1,538 residential and commercial properties have been cleared ....

... state law defines any building, structure, object, district, area or site over 50 years old as historic ....

... measures related to housing, healthcare, taxes and government accountability ....

... Hawaii’s high housing costs are due mostly to Hawaii’s excessively strict land-use and zoning regulations, as well as its long permitting wait times ....

“...Lessons from Maui as LA Begins to Rebuild....”

... Updating the definition of “historic property” would speed up permitting for homebuilding while protecting Hawaii’s history ....

... Maui County Council considering multiple housing-related bills, including one aimed specifically at making it easier for older buildings to be rebuilt after the 2023 wildfires ....

... Properties mauka of Front Street or outside of the erosion hazard line are now exempt from SMA rules, which typically require lengthy review processes ....

"... Bill 105, which would waive for five years the nonconformity rule for churches, temples and anyone else seeking to rebuild in the wake of the Lahaina fires...."

... by partnering with developers to activate underutilized public lands, exploring innovative financing strategies to unlock new resources, and reorganizing its housing functions to centralize development, finance, and policy efforts ....

... learn more about Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ plan to change the law that will allow residential development up to 400 ft tall in Kaka’ako Makai ....

... California Gov. Gavin Newsom is looking to Hawaii for advice on how to rebuild after wildfires ....

... In June 2022, the State Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) designated the Lahaina Aquifer Sector Area as both a ground and surface water management area ....

... A thicket of red tape has made the island's rebuilding efforts painfully slow ....

... over the past year, we’ve seen how bureaucratic hurdles can make it difficult to rebuild homes and businesses ....

... “it’s much easier to spend money than it is to deal with regulations, and that’s what’s going on here.” ...

... tracker consolidates data on government-subsidized housing units across Honolulu County ....

... This bill would also raise the residential height limit along Ala Moana Boulevard to 400 feet ....

... It mostly comes down to one thing: housing ....

... $29 million lying around doing nothing ....

... OHA Trustees are hoping 2025 will be the year legislators stop laughing at their Kaka’ako Makai upzone bills ....

... The word ‘plan’ occurs 526 times in this report.  The phrase ‘property rights’ occurs zero times ....

... Approximately $1.6B allocated for housing and $480M for restoration efforts ....

... The Honolulu City Council shelved Bill 46 while also approving bills that will actually be effective at facilitating more housing ....

... a few requests for the people of Hawaii ....

... Kafkaesque issues that so far have been unresolvable ....

... State land use laws significantly restrict urban development, meaning neighborhoods or condos can only make up about 5 percent of the state ....

"...restrictive regulations...."

... the (US) Supreme Court has held that the government cannot “compel a landowner over objection to rent his property” without violating the Takings Clause ....

... there are three major sources of uncertainty ....

... the widespread desire for change, “not only of people who want to get their permits approved, but also the people who are approving the permits.”  ....

“...There isn’t a lot of built environment left. So, the main thing that we’re talking about, is how can we move projects forward quickly while doing our due diligence to keep an eye out for any archaeology, or more importantly, iwi (human remains) that may be revealed during the construction process...”

... is there really a pent-up demand for high-density housing? ....

... testimonies Grassroot submitted to Hawaii's county councils during the past two weeks ....

... Bill 212 would increase the permit threshold for maintenance projects to $25,000 ....

... it could get worse ....

... Building a home or even completing minor repairs in Hawaii can quickly turn into a bureaucratic nightmare due to the notorious delays in county permitting departments. ...

... neither the County of Maui nor private wastewater collection systems have plans for building wastewater treatment works for the Kula area ....

... let homeowners build more backyard cottages ....