I see people leaving

by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D., President / CEO, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii

I’m guessing most of us have heard about Hawaii’s net population decline in recent years. Prices here are high, housing is scarce, there are few job or business opportunities, and access to healthcare can be problematic. In short, Hawaii is seen as paradise, but it can be a tough place to live.

So it’s little wonder that Hawaii has become infamous nationally for its continuing annual exodus of residents.

But it could get worse.

Think about all the local people you know — not just your friends, family members or coworkers, but also your doctor, your child’s favorite teacher and the librarian who always has the best book recommendations. Some of them have probably already moved away.

Now imagine that more than two-thirds of those who are still here are considering moving away too. Only that number isn't just a guess. It’s a shocking revelation from the recent “Hawai‘i Affordability Survey” commissioned by the Holomua Collective, which is a local nonprofit organization that, like the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, seeks to foster a flourishing local economy where we all can live and prosper.

Holomua’s survey was conducted by SMS Research Hawaii, which interviewed 1,500 local workers and found that about 70% of them were either planning to move away or are considering it.

The survey respondents were mostly long-term or lifetime residents — people who are rooted in their communities and satisfied with their jobs. Many are registered to vote and earn middle- to upper-middle-class incomes.

Some of them don’t necessarily worry about being able to pay their bills, but about one-third said they live paycheck to paycheck. Some have multiple jobs, clip coupons and live in extended families to stretch their incomes. Some worry about never being able to get out from under their credit card debt.

Housing was identified as having the largest impact on their finances, with more than half saying they spend more than 30% of their income on rent or mortgage. Yet, most government “affordable housing” programs have income caps that exclude them.

Squeezed out of the market by high prices and unable to qualify for affordable housing projects, surely many of these workers despair of ever being able to afford a home in Hawaii.

So what can we do to keep these workers and their families here with us?

Launching so-called affordable housing programs will simply never be enough to truly address our housing crisis. We need instead to embrace policies such as those listed in Grassroot’s recent studies “How to facilitate more homebuilding in Hawaii” and “Seven low-cost ways to speed up permitting in Hawaii” that would make it easier to build homes of all kinds.

Furthermore, we need to protect Hawaii's recent historic state income tax cut and continue to work toward reducing our tax burden more generally. Not only does this mean saying “no” to any proposed new tax hikes, it also means reducing government spending and sticking to balanced state and county budgets so our lawmakers won’t feel the need to keep raising our taxes.

To increase job opportunities, we should peel away some of the regulations that make it difficult to conduct business in Hawaii, and repeal or reform the state's occupational licensure laws that impose often-unreasonable requirements on residents seeking to enter a particular trade or profession.

We should do all these things and more, and the sooner the better, because right now, a staggering percentage of our population is thinking about leaving Hawaii. But not because they want to.

E hana kākou! (Let's work together!)