Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Saturday, June 29, 2019
Housing and the Hendersons
By Keli'i Akina PhD @ 2:38 AM :: 5907 Views :: Development, Land Use, Cost of Living

Housing and the Hendersons

From Grassroot Institute, June 28, 2019

It is universally acknowledged that Hawaii residents need more homes. So why is it so hard to build them?

When you ask people about their frustrations with the cost of living in Hawaii, high home prices and rental rates are among the first things mentioned. It’s a topic that comes up a lot in the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii’s “Why we left Hawaii” series.

The Henderson family is a perfect example of why people are leaving Hawaii.

Originally from Texas, Brandie and Clint Henderson moved to Maui in 2010. They started a business there called Maui on the Fly, and all three of their children were born there. By 2017, they needed additional space for their twins, but even with a VA loan, they couldn’t find a home in Lahaina without six figures in the bank. So, after “eight wonderful years” in Hawaii, the family moved back to Texas. 

As Brandie wrote: “We noticed super-high rental rates and almost no places to even look at anymore. It was sad to see three and four generations living in a single tiny home because no one could afford to live on their own.”

Housing in Hawaii is expensive because there aren’t enough homes to meet demand. The obvious solution is to build more homes. But that is easier said than done.

When it’s just a question of driving nails, installing plumbing and so on, it doesn’t take long to build a house. Builders say it can be done in about three months.

But jumping through all the regulatory and administrative hoops is another thing entirely. Just getting the necessary permissions to build a new home in Hawaii can take three to five years — and that’s when the project is on the “fast track.”

If that’s the fast track, imagine how long the “regular” track must be. In Hawaii, going by normal procedures means that it can take more than a decade to get moving on a building project. By then, developers are more inclined to give up or retire than continue.

Building new homes for a nice, close-knit community of the kind the Hendersons were seeking also requires urban zoning. But in Hawaii there’s not a lot of urban-zoned land to go around. Statewide the total is about only 5%, with the rest being agriculture or conservation land. 

The solution is to increase the amount of land available for housing, something that could be done without any harm to conservation areas. Increasing urban zoning to just 6% would comprise a 20% increase!

Ironically, the lack of urban zoning isn’t a problem for developers who build mansions, because building a single house on an acre doesn’t necessarily require urban zoning. This creates a perverse incentive to build mansions over much-needed affordable housing, since it saves the developer years of jumping through bureaucratic hoops.

All of this contributes to the supply problem that sent the Hendersons — and so many other local families — to the mainland. When you make building affordable houses a difficult, time-consuming endeavor, there will be fewer houses available to buy or rent.

With so many people in Hawaii in need of affordable homes, we should be lowering the barriers to development and making the building process faster. 

Families such as the Hendersons are looking for homes in which they can raise their children. But those children might be grown, graduated and headed to the mainland themselves before the new homes get built.

E hana kakou! (Let's work together!),  

Keli'i Akina, Ph.D.

President/CEO

 

 

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii