Over 90% of Hawaiʻi's beaches are expected to be in a chronic state of erosion by 2050, according to the Surfrider Foundation’s 2025 State of the Beach Report.
Two homes have collapsed into the ocean on Oʻahu's North Shore over the past five years — the first at Rocky Point in 2022, and another nearby at Sunset Beach in 2024.
Neighbors have resorted to temporary fixes to keep their homes safe from rising sea levels and erosion, including shoreline armoring, tarps, and geotextile bags. Some fixes have gained popularity despite being unpermitted or illegal.
“This is really a Band-Aid and only makes the situation worse. When they remove them, it places their homes at immediate risk,” said Hanna Lilley, the Hawaiʻi regional manager at the Surfrider Foundation.
But there are limited alternative solutions for folks living on the coast. Oftentimes, retreating inland is the preferred method to save their property and avoid the risk of their home falling into the ocean, but inland retreat routes are sparse in an island state.
“We have a high concentration of development along the shoreline, and an unusually high coastline-to-land area ratio,” Lilley said.
“This means a larger share of our homes, roads, beaches, and public spaces are directly exposed to rising seas, wave energy, and erosion. That's why proactive and safety-focused shoreline policies are especially critical out here to address it before the emergency happens.”
Lilley and the foundation have been working with Windward Oʻahu Sen. Chris Lee to introduce several bills this year that would take a preventive approach.
The foundation’s Oʻahu chapter is prioritizing SB3034, which would establish a volunteer leaseback program through which the state Department of Land and Natural Resources could acquire at-risk properties through a Coastal Resilience Revolving Fund.
Another measure would increase transparency when selling homes that could eventually be at risk, while other measures would strengthen penalties for those who use unpermitted fixes.
“We know that the challenge is only getting more severe and is hitting us a lot faster. No matter what we do, erosion is accelerating,” Lee said.
“The question then becomes, ‘If our beaches are the center of our communities, our way of life, and certainly our economy, what are we going to do to protect them, and what is it worth to protect them?'”
Lilley and Lee are working to foster more community engagement and education on the topic to strengthen the fight for safer coastal zones. They’re hosting a “Stoked on Civics” event to reach audiences who are passionate about the issue, but may not know how to get involved.
Lilley said Hawaiʻi needs systematic changes that target the root issues before they become problems, rather than focusing on making changes after the damage happens.
“A lot of this is a slow-moving disaster, so it's hard to really get people to shift their mindset towards needing to take action now. This isn’t something that can wait,” Lilley said.
“But until Hawaiʻi develops a dedicated volunteer acquisition or retreat program, these distressed shoreline properties will continue to fall into this grey area where risk is well understood but solutions are really limited.”
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