More Housing for Everyone Means More Housing for Hawaiians

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Keliʻi Akina, Ph.D., Trustee, At-Large

Regardless of the city, whenever I am traveling across the United States, I often run into fellow Hawaiians. It is always a heartwarming delight to be greeted with the familiar, “Aloha, Uncle!” The stories of our Kānaka on the continent vary, but inevitably most of them yearn to come home.

Consider, for example, Bert Kanoa. Both he and his wife grew up in North Kohala on Hawaiʻi Island where many of my ancestors are from. But the cost of living in Hawaiʻi, especially the high price of housing, pushed the Kanoas to move away to Rexburg, Idaho.

Although they can afford a home there, Bert says, “If possible, we would love to move back, so long as it would make sense financially. If the cost of housing in Hawaiʻi were similar to that in the mainland states like Texas, Florida, Idaho, or Utah, then I would go back in a heartbeat.”

Bert’s story underscores a problem that is driving local residents, including Hawaiians, out of Hawaiʻi. That problem is the inability to buy or even rent a suitable home in the islands. As a startling consequence, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that more than 50% of all Native Hawaiians now live outside of Hawaiʻi. And the Holomua Collective, in its “Hawaiʻi Affordability Survey,” has found that about 70% of Hawaiʻi residents are now either planning to move away or are seriously considering it.

Photo: DHHL Director Kali Watson and Trustee Keliʻi Akina
DHHL Director Kali Watson and Trustee Keliʻi Akina at the groundbreaking ceremony for DHHL’s Hale Mōʻiliʻili apartment complex. – Courtesy Photo

While good work is being done by organizations focused on helping Hawaiians to obtain housing, such as the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, there is only so much they can do. To help more Hawaiians obtain housing, the overall shortage of housing must be addressed – it is this shortage that drives up the price of housing.

According to the UHERO Hawaiʻi Housing Factbook 2024, Hawaiʻi currently faces a severe housing shortage where only about 20% of households can afford a median-priced single-family home. The UHERO report indicates that to purchase a typical home in Hawaiʻi, a household needs to earn 183% of the median income!

That’s the result of there being too few homes. Simply put, we need to create more housing if we don’t want our residents, including Native Hawaiians, to have to move away.

This is one reason why I’m excited that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is looking into projects that will increase the overall supply of housing. Community discussions about the housing possibilities at Kakaʻako Makai are now taking place. Both workforce housing at prices affordable to average working families and market-rate housing are being explored as mutually beneficial solutions.

Specifically, the more expensive market-rate housing will make it possible for developers to afford to build units to be sold at lower cost.

That’s a solution that can help everyone by increasing the overall supply of housing. And more housing at a price most people can afford means more housing for Hawaiians. E hana kākou! (Let’s work together!)


Trustee Akina welcomes your questions, comments, and feedback. He can be reached at TrusteeAkina@oha.org or (808) 594-1976.