affordable housing

The Hawaiʻi County Council is considering a bill to amend its affordable rental housing program to help increase the island's housing supply.

Bill 123 allows homeowners in residential and agricultural properties to build up to three ADUs on their properties. ADUs can be connected to or detached from the primary property and can be used to house long-term residents.

This week, the Nareit Foundation awarded the grant, which will go toward renovations and repairs for two homes housing MA’O employees. The renovation will turn a section of one of the homes into a unit where one or two farmers can live.

The City and County of Honolulu just updated one of Oʻahu’s incentives for developers of potential affordable rental housing. HPR's Mark Ladao has more.

Local officials and advocates are celebrating the passage of significant housing reform bills that made it through the state legislative session. Perhaps the most notable — and controversial — of those measures is a bill that forces the counties to increase the number of accessory dwelling units allowed on residential properties in urban areas by 2026. HPR's Mark Ladao has more.

Senate Bill 3202 would allow two accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, to be built on residential properties. Most of the opposition came from lawmakers who represent urban Honolulu.

The city wants to build 18,000 affordable housing units by fiscal year 2029, according to its 2023 housing plan, but the availability of land and city funding continue to be two of some of the most expensive obstacles to doing that.

The bill would amend a $10 million city program by offering grants to developers before the construction of rental units, instead of just after construction. It would also allow developers to receive up to $35,000 per eligible unit — up from a maximum of $15,000.

A controversial state bill to add to Hawaiʻi’s affordable housing supply just got its major provisions removed. Homeowners with larger properties would have been able to subdivide their properties into smaller properties, each with three separate housing units.

On Monday the council formally approved a resolution opposing Senate Bill 3202 and its now-dead House companion bill, which would allow up to two additional dwelling units on residential properties in urban areas.