Increasing rents strain key housing lifeline for thousands of Hawaiʻi families

A new University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization report finds the Housing Choice Voucher program — more commonly known as Section 8 housing — faces growing financial pressure as increasing rents make it more and more expensive to help Hawaiʻi families.

About 12,000 low-income households throughout the islands now rely on the program to help pay their rent.

Federal spending on Hawaiʻi’s tenant-based vouchers has more than tripled since 2003 from about $55 million to about $170 million by 2024, representing a 70% increase even after accounting for inflation.

Yet, the number of families getting assistance only modestly grew, and the reason is simple.

Hawaiʻi rents climbed dramatically.

Voucher households generally pay about 30% of their adjusted income toward rent and utilities, with the government covering much of the remaining cost. Many participant incomes remain relatively flat as rents increase, and taxpayers must cover a growing share of the cost just to maintain assistance for roughly the same number of families.

The stakes extend beyond families receiving help, too.

Only about 1 in 5 income-eligible households in Hawaiʻi receive a voucher, leaving thousands of others waiting for assistance that might not become available for years.

“As rents rise, more federal funding is needed just to maintain the program, making it harder to expand assistance to the thousands of Hawaiʻi families still waiting for help,” said lead author of the new report and University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization Department of Urban and Regional Planning assistant professor JoonYup Park, who also has a professorship in affordable housing with Hawaiʻi Community Reinvestment Corporation.

Section 8 is becoming an increasingly important pathway out of homelessness as well, with about 1 in 5 households newly admitted previously being houseless compared with roughly 1 in 20 during the mid-2000s.

However, receiving a voucher does not automatically mean a family has housing.

Households generally have 60 to 120 days to find a rental that meets program requirements and landlord willing to accept the voucher. They can lose the voucher and return to the bottom of the waiting list if they cannot.

The report points to housing construction as one possible solution to the voucher program’s continuing financial flaws.

More apartments and other housing can help slow climbing rent prices and create more affordable options for voucher holders, reducing the amount of government assistance needed for each household.

Helping families increase their incomes also could reduce reliance on subsidies and eventually free vouchers for others waiting for help.

“This research shows that Hawaiʻi’s housing affordability challenge cannot be solved by rental assistance alone,” Park said. “We need to think about how housing policy, economic opportunity and the structure of public benefits can work together to give more families a realistic path toward long-term housing stability.”