The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii on Feb. 6, 2026, for consideration by the House Committees on Housing and Water and Land.
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Feb. 6, 2026, 8:45 a.m.
Hawaii State Capitol
Conference Room 430 and Videoconference
To: House Committee on Housing
Rep. Luke Evslin, Chair
Rep. Tyson Miyake, Vice Chair
House Committee on Water and Land
Rep. Mark Hashem, Chair
Rep. Dee Morikawa, Vice Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
RE: TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF HB1737 — RELATING TO FARM EMPLOYEE HOUSING
Aloha chairs, vice chairs and other members of the committees,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports — and offers an amendment to —HB1737, which would update the state’s definition of “farm dwelling” to include employee housing structures under certain conditions.
Under the bill, an “accessory employee housing structure” could be one or more dwelling units as long as the cumulative habitable square footage of the dwellings does not exceed 800 square feet and no unit is used as a vacation rental.
However, the current wording of the bill inadvertently redefines “farm dwellings” to exclude the term “where agricultural activity provides income to the family occupying the dwelling.” Grassroot recommends the bill be rewritten by deleting the following bracketed text and adding the following underlined text:
Grassroot pointed out in its January 2026 policy brief “How to facilitate more housing for Hawaii farm and ranch workers” that a lack of affordable housing has consistently been cited as a barrier to expanding agricultural production in Hawaii. The report also made clear that there is no statewide standard for how and where farm employee housing can be built.
Approving this bill would give farmers and ranchers an extra tool to help attract and retain workers, because living on the land could minimize commute times and transportation expenses. Consider the following information:
>> A 2020 U.S. Department of Agriculture survey found that 41% of the state’s farmers and ranchers cited a lack of labor as a barrier to expanding their operations.[1]
>> More than 9,500 people in Hawaii were employed as “hired farm labor” in 2023.[2]
>> More than half of those people worked on farms and ranches on Hawaii Island alone,[3] but only one-quarter of Hawaii Island farmers reported hiring labor.
Allowing more housing on farms and ranches, especially for temporary and seasonal workers, would be a win for farm and ranch owners, a win for their employees and a win for everyone who enjoys local food.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
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[1] “Labor Shortage as a Barrier to Agricultural Expansion 2020,” Hawaii Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, April 2022.
[2] “Hawaii PYs 2024-2027,” Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, p. 70.
[3] Hannah Leto, Jordan Mitkowski, Katie Hogan, et al., “Agricultural Labor on Hawaiʻi Island,” Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University, May 2025, pp. 4-5.
