Next time you're driving around Kaka’ako at night, look up at all the new high-rise towers. You'll see that they are mostly dark. Where are all the people? Could that be the solution to our affordable housing crisis?
Next week the Honolulu City Council will take up Bill 46, also known as the Empty House Tax, which supporters hope can help free up inventory. If the bill passes, empty homes would be taxed up to 3%.
Council Chair Tommy Waters who introduced the measure shared that often there are outside investors who buy homes for cash and have them sit for a couple of years as the value goes up. The goal of this bill is to encourage these investors to be a part of the community by renting out their property to local families — or paying more in taxes.
"We take that money and use it to build more affordable housing or to get local families into housing," he said.
Waters emphasized that Hawaiʻi has the highest rent in the nation. According to the UHERO 2024 Housing Factbook, 67,000 people left the state in 2022.
"That's our friends, family, neighbors that can't afford to live here. So we are in a housing crisis. That's why I'm thinking — gotta be bold. We've got to be decisive. That's why I wrote Bill 46," he said.
Waters shared that he is the fifth of six siblings all born and raised in Honolulu — and all five of his siblings moved away to the continent.
During the most recent committee meeting, the public was able to submit testimony regarding the bill. A UH Mānoa senior shared that she has been working alongside her classmates to get the bill passed.
"Real people are experiencing real issues with housing right now. That's why we need to pass this bill as soon as possible, so that we can start feeling the impacts of it. This bill needs to be comprehensive and robust enough to actually do the work it was intended to do when it was created," the student said.
However, the measure has also experienced some pushback.
"A home does not need to be a residence in order to have significant community value. Many kānaka and local families, including some of those in my family, will be punished if this bill passes in its current form," said one resident in public testimony.
Waters said that some were concerned that the measure was unconstitutional. To combat this, an empty homes tax classification was created to help the public understand who would be affected by the measure.
However, Waters thinks that passing the measure will be a "close call" next week.
"When you have a crisis like we do, you got to be bold and decisive and I'm hoping my council will follow me and Radiant Cordero, our budget chair, in supporting this bill, because it really, really is going to make a difference. It's not going to be the silver bullet that solves all the problems, but it's just one important tool to help us solve this problem that we're currently facing," he said.
This is his third attempt to pass a measure that would tax empty properties. If passed next week, the tax would be implemented starting with the 2027 tax year.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Dec. 4, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. Ashley Mizuo contributed to this report.
