Ten Big Ideas for Our Chronic Housing Shortage
Since we began this journey together, we’ve been having hard conversations — not just about what’s broken, but what’s possible. What does real housing reform look like?
Well, let’s give it a try. When cooking up housing solutions, there are three (different-sized) approaches:
Sprinkle a little seasoning
Swap out ingredients
Rewrite the whole recipe
So we asked ourselves: no matter how difficult, what are housing homeruns that would dramatically change the game?
Here are ten bold ideas to unlock housing for the next generation in Hawaiʻi. It’s not perfect. It’s not final. But it’s honest. And it’s a starting line:
🌆 1. Reform the Land Use Commission’s Treatment of Urban Land: The Land Use Law gives counties control over urban lands — but we’re barely using that potential. It’s time to re-activate state power and allow dense, walkable housing by-right in already-urbanized areas. Think: Japan-style zoning with real teeth.
🏗️ 2. Embrace Modular Housing: Ka La‘i Ola in Lahaina showed what’s possible. Let’s not wait for disasters to act. Modular homes can be cost-effective, quick to build, and community-scaled — especially when paired with laws like SB3202 that remove barriers to multi-family zoning.
🧑🔧 3. Replace Inclusionary Zoning with Locals-Only Housing: Inclusionary zoning is well-meaning — but often fails working families. Let’s shift to income-blind, Hawai‘i-resident-first models. It’s about keeping homes in local hands — not gaming AMI charts.
🛠️ 4. Create a Revolving Land & Entitlement Program: Counties can reduce costs by fully entitling it for housing, then selling it to developers. Reducing risk, cutting red tape, and accelerating timelines. Honolulu’s 6-46 program is a starting point — let’s scale it statewide.
🧪 5. Allow Experimental Housing Projects: State law allows it. Let’s use it. Counties and developers should partner on designated experimental housing sites where we can pilot innovation on the policy and construction side of housing. We need to encourage innovation.
🧑💼 6. Real Civil Service Reform: Departments like DPP and SHPD are asked to do big things with skeleton crews. Chronic vacancies and low pay are killing our pipeline. We need a professionalized, non-civil-service track — like DHHL and HPHA — to get the right talent in fast.
📏 7. Overhaul 201H + Revive Workforce Housing Path: 201H used to mean density bonuses. Now, unappetizing restrictions water-down its effectiveness. Restore real incentives and predictability — or retire it and revive the Workforce Housing track.
🌿 8. Promote Locally-Sourced Building Materials: Hempcrete, bamboo, basalt — Hawai‘i can grow (or source) its own building future. Let’s support R&D, subsidies, and building code updates that help us build with the ‘āina, not against it.
🏗️ 9. Objective-Based By-Right Housing: Instead of forcing developers to front-load concessions, flip it. Focus on county (macro) objectives instead of project-by-project analysis. Provide by-right development with incentives for hitting county objectives. ALL eyes on the same goal.
🧾 10. Create a Centralized Housing Needs Database: Build a statewide registry to understand local demand and guide smarter housing planning. Replace a complex, project-based application process with a central database where all prospective renters and homebuyers qualify once for any and all homes they’re interested in.
In due time, we’ll talk more about what it will take to realize each of these big ideas. Be on the lookout for our next post!
