The Truth About Gov. Green's Housing EP... đ
Nani Medeiros resigned as lead housing officer.
And Gov. Green amended his emergency proclamation on housing to restore environmental review (Chapter 343) and historical preservation (Chapter 6E).
The group wonât bypass the Land Use Commission, and Sunshine Law is restored.
Great, right?
Well, sort of.
The new version of the EP will piss off fewer people.
But, truth is, the governor canât solve the housing crisis on his own.
The initial version of the EP wasnât going to solve the housing crisis.
In its initial form, the EP could only speed up existing housing developments and give government agencies more flexibility in hiring and procurement.
But the EP didnât and doesnât create any permanent change in government.
We need our legislature and county councils to do that.
The EP doesnât change land use and zoning policy. And it only indirectly speeds up permitting.
It treats symptoms, but it doesnât address the root of the problem, especially on neighbor islands.
The Problem is Government Regulation đ§
There are two types of people:
Those who have tried to pull building permits and those who have not.
Those whoâve interacted with permitting departments understand that government is not working.
At least, it seems like government only works for large developers, and thatâs no accident.
Hawaiâiâs four counties have the most housing regulations in the country.
And heavily regulated industries tend toward consolidation.
Large companies can afford armies of lawyers, planning consultants, and lobbyists to push projects through our broken government.
Large developers can survive lawsuits and wait a decade or more for project approval (think D. R. Hortonâs Hoâopili or Castle & Cookeâs Koa Ridge).
Meanwhile, NIMBYs freak out over any increase in density in urban areas.
They scream about street parking or the âchanging characterâ of their neighborhood.
So we end up with a truly bizarre system where itâs easier to put up a 400 square foot high rise or to pave over 100 acres of ag land and build a sprawling subdivision than it is for your grandparents to build an accessory dwelling unit in town.
And our children and grandchildren keep leaving because they canât afford to stay.
AuweâŚ
See: Maui đ¤Śđťââď¸
On Maui, the County Zoning Code (Title 19) hasnât been updated since it was adopted in 1960.
Itâs a zoning code designed to make housing unaffordable and to produce suburban sprawl. Andâsurprise, surprise, thatâs exactly what Maui got!
Should it be changed?
Duh.
A 2018 audit of the code noted that zoning codes should be reviewed and rewritten every ten years.
Itâs 2023, so weâve waited 63 yearsâŚ
On the council floor, Maui councilmembers keep talking about giving millions of taxpayer dollars to this large development project or that large development project.
Meanwhile, the basic policy governing land use in Maui County is ~maybe~ being revised by a Mayoral administration that hasnât mentioned zoning reform once.
If only we could send BJ Penn to tap out our broken zoning code!