The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for consideration by the Maui County Council Housing and Land Use Committee on Oct. 9, 2024.
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Oct. 9, 2024, 9 a.m.
Council Chamber, Kalana O Maui Building
To: Maui County Council Housing and Land Use Committee
Tasha Kama, Chair
Tom Cook, Vice-Chair
From: Joe Kent, Executive Vice President
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
RE: COMMENTS ON HOUSING SOLUTIONS
Aloha Chair Kama, Vice-Chair Cook and other members of the Committee,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii would like to offer its comments on the issue before the Committee today, namely how to address Maui County’s housing needs.
Rather than create new programs or projects that would require expenditure of county funds, Grassroot focuses on housing reforms that can be pursued at little taxpayer expense. These reforms could be especially important now, since the monetary obligations related to wildfire cleanup and litigation threaten the County’s long-term financial sustainability.
Further, these are solutions that have proven successful elsewhere and which work by incentivizing the market to produce more — and lower-cost — housing units.
In alignment with its mission, Grassroot has produced numerous articles, reports and studies about Hawaii’s housing policies, including “How to facilitate more homebuilding in Hawaii,” which can be downloaded for free on our website.
One of the most important reforms that can encourage housing growth is one that Maui has already begun to explore with Resolution 24-143 and Bill 103 (2024).
Allowing the construction of multiple accessory or primary dwellings per lot both have the potential to boost overall housing stock and improve housing and rental affordability. In order to be effective, however, these bills must be accompanied by reform of associated regulations that can stymie construction, namely floor area ratios, setbacks and parking requirements.
Upzoning is also a simple way to legalize more housing, such as duplexes and triplexes, in areas previously zoned for lower-density use. Upzoning allows for the creation of more housing in areas already zoned for residential use, but without altering the character of those communities. It also features smaller lots, reform of floor area ratios, reduced setbacks, lot-splitting and parking reform.
Maui County should also consider ways to encourage the growth of housing outside of residential zones. Encouraging mixed-use growth, especially through adaptive reuse, could help create more cost-effective housing in city centers.
Encouraging adaptive reuse — the repurposing of an old building for a new purpose — and mixed-use development is largely a matter of reforming the building code and reducing the approvals that might bar the creation of residential units in commercial buildings. Once again, this might require revising the county’s parking requirements to ensure that they do not become an unnecessary barrier to the construction of nontraditional housing options.
Grassroot has also published two memos that specifically address housing and building in Maui County. Our July memo, “Six ways to speed up the recovery and rebuilding of Lahaina,” discussed several of the County barriers to a streamlined rebuilding process. A measure before this Council, Bill 105 (2024), would allow nonconforming structures and uses destroyed by natural disasters to be rebuilt or reinstituted, and we specifically recommend such an approach in the memo.
Likewise, our September memo, “How fixes to Maui’s water-fixture policy could ease its housing crisis,” details the need to update the county’s outdated rules for water-fixture units and associated fees.
Finally, Grassroot also has a report slated for publication that will discuss ways the state and counties can reduce wait times for building permits, including by allowing more preapproved house plans and increasing the number of projects exempt from needing a building permit. Once this report is complete, we will share copies with the Council.
Maui’s housing crisis cannot be solved overnight, nor can it be solved solely through county-funded housing projects. By embracing reforms that remove barriers to market-based housing growth, the County can begin to address the housing crisis without further endangering its financial future.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Joe Kent, Executive Vice President
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
