Hawaiʻi Island Housing Coalition holding next online meeting on March 16

The Hawaiʻi Island Housing Coalition is holding its next Zoom meeting from 1 to 2:20 p.m. on March 16.

Hawaiʻi County needs housing that families and our workforce can afford. The 2019 Hawaiʻi Housing Planning Study showed that 8.8% of households pay between 30 to 40 percent of their monthly household income toward housing, with 21.8 percent paying more than 40 percent toward housing. The threshold for being shelter burdened is paying more than 30 percent of income toward household costs.

The study also found that Hawaiʻi County needs 13,303 additional housing units by 2025.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology combines transportation and housing costs to provide a more accurate measure of affordability, showing that Hawaiʻi County leads the state in unaffordable housing costs: households pay 61 percent of their income toward housing and transportation.

In 2020, Vibrant Hawaiʻi formed the Hawaiʻi Island Housing Coalition to provide a platform for communication and collaboration, strengthen local response to provide a spectrum of affordable housing options, connect stakeholders for a deeper understanding of barriers, and encourage partnerships to organize for efficient and effective collective action.

At the last Hawaiʻi Island Housing Coalition meeting on Feb. 16, nearly 50 community members joined to learn more about Ordinance 22-77, which appropriates at least $5 million per year for the Office of Housing and Community Development to facilitate programs that support affordable housing production. 

For fiscal year 2022-23, the Office of Housing and Community Development will receive $9 million, said its director, Susan Kunz.

Click here to view the presentation.

The housing coalition is co-chaired by Darryl Oliveira and Merrick Nishimoto and includes three core teams: Legislative Advocacy, Workforce Housing and The Lighthouse. To learn more, or to join a core team, email housing@vibranthawaii.org.

To register for the March 16 Zoom meeting, click here.