‘Guest house’ bill accords with 2018 update to Kauai general plan

from Grassroot Institute of Hawaii

The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for consideration by the Kaua‘i County Council on Oct. 23, 2024.
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Oct. 23, 2024, 8:30 a.m.
Historic County Building

To: Kaua‘i County Council
       Mel Rapozo, Chair
       KipuKai Kuali‘i, Vice Chair

From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
            Jonathan Helton, Policy Researcher

RE: Bill 2933 — RELATING TO THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE, INCLUDING MATTERS PERTAINING TO GUEST HOUSES

Aloha Chair Rapozo, Vice-Chair Kuali‘i and other members of the Council,

The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports Bill 2933, Draft 1, which would allow one guest house per dwelling unit in most of the county’s residential districts and commercial, agriculture, open and university districts in an effort to increase the availability of housing for rent.

Draft 1 of the bill specifies that in county residential districts, only one guest house or additional rental unit[1] can be constructed per primary dwelling unit on the lot.

As defined by existing county code, a guest house is “a building with a floor area of no more than 800 square feet, may contain a kitchen, and is used for dwelling purposes by guests, tenants, or owner(s).”

The code further specifies that guest houses cannot be used as homestays or short-term rentals, regardless of whether they are build in visitor destination areas[2] — a requirement that this bill would not change.

The bill also would allow guest houses to be built on lots that already have an “additional dwelling unit,” which is defined as “a structure or portion thereof designed and used for single-family residential purposes as permitted under Article 15 of Chapter 8, and which can be detached from or attached to an existing residence, to be used for single-family occupancy and containing one kitchen.”[3]

The expansion of guest houses contemplated by this bill would offer homeowners the opportunity to build more dwellings on their properties either for their children, aging parents or extended families, enabling multigenerational families to live on the same property.

This bill could also generate wealth for existing homeowners by allowing them to rent out their guest houses.

This bill is in accord with the 2018 update to Kauai’s general plan, which recommended that the county “facilitate the development of small-footprint homes or ‘tiny homes’ on small lots”[4] in existing urban areas as a way to alleviate Kauai’s housing crisis.

That update also recommended that the county seek to “avoid sprawl development patterns and inefficient infrastructure and service delivery by maximizing density in new communities,”[5] which this bill would allow.

On the other hand, the bill’s provisions that expand guest houses on agricultural lands could be helpful for farmers and ranchers in need of housing for their employees. As Kaua‘i Planning Commission member Jerry Ornellas said during the commission’s June 4 meeting, the county has “worked very hard at saving agricultural land, but not hard enough at saving the farmers who have to farm that land.”[6]

The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii pointed out in its recent report “How to facilitate more homebuilding in Hawaii” that allowing more homes on the same lot is a powerful approach that many states and cities across the county have used to increase housing supply.

Such areas include the cities of Minneapolis, Houston, Milwaukee and Columbus, Ohio; and the entire states of California and Montana. A good international example is Auckland, New Zealand.[7] All have “upzoned” their residential areas to allow greater housing density on lands already zoned for housing, and the research indicates these changes can increase supply and incrementally lower prices.[8]

Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Jonathan Helton
Policy Researcher
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
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[1] § 8-30.1 Additional Rental Units, Kauai County Code, accessed Oct. 18, 2024.

[2] § 8-1.5 Definitions, Kauai County Code, accessed March 22, 2024.
[3] Ibid.
[4] “Kauaʻi General Plan,” 2018 Update, p. 119.
[5] Ibid, p. 121.
[6] Kaua‘i County Planning Commission, June 4, 2024 meeting, 3:48:45 timestamp.
[7]  Laurel Wamsley, “The hottest trend in U.S. cities? Changing zoning rules to allow more housing,” NPR, Feb. 17, 2024; and Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy, “Can Zoning Reform Reduce Housing Costs? Evidence from Rents in Auckland,” University of Auckland Business School, Economic Policy Centre Working Paper No. 016, June 2023.
[8] Christina Plerhoples Stacy, Christopher Davis, Yonah Freemark, Lydia Lo, Graham MacDonald, Vivian Zheng and Rolf Pendall, “Land-Use Reforms and Housing Costs,” Urban Institute, March 29, 2023; and Vicki Been, Ingrid Gould Ellen and Katherine M. O’Regan, “Supply Skepticism Revisited,” New York University Law and Economics Research Paper forthcoming, Nov. 10, 2023