The median price of a single-family home on Oʻahu is now $1.14 million, according to Locations Hawaiʻi. The high cost of housing makes life difficult for just about everyone, but can also push low-income residents to the brink and beyond.
Matthew Desmond is a Pulitzer Prize-winning sociology professor at Princeton University. His research focuses on poverty in America, housing insecurity, and racial inequality, among other things.
He says Hawaiʻi’s housing market suffers from some of the same conditions faced by other areas with high costs of living. And that hits renters especially hard.
“We’ve seen rents basically double all across America over the last two decades, but incomes for a lot of folks have basically remained stagnant. And the government hasn’t really stepped up to help," Desmond said.
"Those are the three ingredients that are really creating the housing crisis. Housing costs are just so outpacing so many peoples’ incomes. And the division between being an owner and being a renter has historical roots too. And this is where the story kind of touches on racial division and legacies of privilege or disadvantage, depending on who we are," he said.
Assistance for those struggling with rent due to the pandemic is available county by county. On Oʻahu, the program is run by the Office of Economic Revitalization.
If you are facing eviction, Desmond says you should attempt to discuss the problem directly with your landlord even though it can be scary.
"It's intimate, it's flat out depressing, you know, and you just kind of feel the weight of the world. And that really works against you. That's when landlords get frustrated," he said. "Seek out your community, seek out your people, invite them into the problem with you. Seek out legal help, don't face it alone."
"For the homeowners listening to this, the thing that we can do is be welcoming. Everyone kind of likes the idea of more public housing in theory, but the question is, do we like it in our neighborhoods? And I hope that more of us start showing up to those city council meetings and being the voice that says 'Yes, I want this in my community, I would love for my kids to go to school with these kids. I believe that this is part of what it means to be an American and I want to put my community on offer for that,'" Desmond told HPR.
This interview aired on The Conversation on March 24, 2022. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
