Housing bills signed as Kaua’i develops homelessness, housing strategy

Gov. Josh Green signed several housing bills during a press conference at the State Capitol on Tuesday, following a series of meetings held by the County of Kauaʻi Housing Agency to assist in the development of a strategic plan for addressing homelessness.

Speaking at the conference, Green said large numbers of local families have been leaving the state for Las Vegas in recent years as Hawaiʻi becomes increasingly unaffordable.

“People are leaving. So we have to do something about that. Prices are rising, the median home price has increased by 350% (in the last 20 years),” Green said.

“No normal person can afford a house basically, without really reaching. And it’s just too hard,” he added.

Green signed five bills during the meeting, the most discussed and controversial being Senate Bill 3202.

SB 3202 aims to increase housing inventory and create smaller, more affordable homes by allowing homeowners to build up to two additional dwelling units (ADUs) on their properties.

“This is a very straightforward way to help in the right place, build some additional capacity for our people so that they don’t have to leave and be in other states,” Green said. “We have to take action. We canʻt just keep kicking the can down the road.”

During the legislative session, SB 3202 passed with a 29–22 vote in the House and a 16–9 vote in the Senate. 

Those against the measure say the bill will instead make housing more expensive, predicting that the ability to build more developments will cause outside buyers to purchase more properties, driving up housing prices statewide, as written in an article in Civil Beat last month.

Speaking at the meeting, State Rep. Luke Evslin who represents District 16 (Wailua, Hanamā‘ulu, Kapaia, Līhu‘e, Puhi, and a portion of ‘Ōma‘o), addressed the claims that increasing density would cause property prices to go up. 

“There’s overwhelming evidence that the more housing you build, that that will drive down the market price or at least you know, make a difference in slowing down the rate of increase,” said Evslin. 

Evslin, a leader of SB 3202, who is also the Chair of the House Committee on Housing, pushed back against criticism of the bill, saying those against it didn’t completely understand the measure.

“So the intention here is to help generate lots and lots of rental inventory to stabilize and bring down the market price of housing,” he said, noting that individual counties will retain authority over the size, parking requirements, and other regulations to prevent overcrowding.

The other four bills signed at the press conference included House Bill 1760, which enables the Hawai‘i Housing Finance and Development Corporation and counties to receive a line of credit in order to implement a bond volume cap recycling program. Another measure, House Bill 1925, establishes and funds the Hawai‘i State Planning Act Phase II Task Force. House Bill 2090 directs counties to allow adaptive reuse of existing commercial buildings through their ordinances. Lastly, Senate Bill 2066 provides an alternative pathway for housing projects to seek exemptions from certain state laws and rules, expediting the regulatory process to increase affordable housing units. 

“The housing crisis is I think by far the biggest crisis that we face. What gives me hope, you know, more so probably than even this individual piece of legislation getting signed today, is this incredible group of stakeholders who came together from every level of government and from community for the passage of these bills and took cracks to ensure that we could get these through,” Evslin said.

“Hopefully next year we’ve got an even bigger package and the year after that a bigger package, and I think step by step, we really start to turn the corner and hopefully solve the housing crisis and ensure local families can stay here.”

The press conference followed 11 different meetings from Kauai’s Housing Agency, held from May 21 to May 25, aimed at assisting in the development of the county’s five-year homelessness strategy. The meetings were divided into four events for houseless people, five for community members in various neighborhoods, one for social service providers, and one for people who are business leaders in the community.  

The Anahola Neighborhood meeting, held on May 23, discussed a range of issues related to homelessness and housing affordability with the approximately 15 people who were in attendance. 

Potential issues included a lack of mental health and substance abuse care, a need for more emergency shelters, and location challenges for safe spaces and new developments.

Although the County of Kauaʻi already permits ADUs, the creation of the units was described as being hindered by a lack of infrastructure, as well as the county’s cesspool issue. 

Property owners need to convert to a septic system before creating another unit, which costs about $50,000, on average.

“We can’t approve it because you have to get the upgrade of the septic system. And then when (property owners) look at how much the septic system costs, they can’t build the ADU,” said Farah Aquino, a homeless coordinator with the county. 

Councilwoman Felicia Cowden described how the biggest problem for creating more affordable housing is a lack of infrastructure. 

“The layout and the geology of the land is incredibly expensive. We have about $4 billion worth of infrastructure that we need to do to even bring us up to speed,” she said.