March 19, 2026, 3 p.m.
Hawaii State Capitol
Conference Room 224 and Videoconference
To: Senate Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Relations
Sen. Glenn Wakai, Chair
Sen. Stanley Chang, Vice-Chair
Senate Committee on Water, Land, Culture and the Arts
Sen. Chris Lee, Chair
Sen. Lorraine R. Inouye, Vice Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
RE: TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF HB1742 HD3 — RELATING TO HOUSING
Aloha Chairs, Vice Chairs and other Committee Members,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports HB1742 HD3, which would establish a framework for regulating and permitting self-contained, relocatable housing — in other words, homes that can be moved without being disassembled.
These units would give Hawaii residents more housing options and could help families more easily attain homeownership, perhaps through buying a self-contained, movable home and a small plot of land while saving money for a site-built home.
This bill would require these homes to meet various federal rules for prefabricated homes and comply with local building codes. These homes would also have to be able to operate with independent power, sewer and water systems, which would make them perfect for rural or off-grid living.
The bill would also establish a permitting process for self-contained housing and require that the counties issue ministerial zoning permits for such housing within 30 days of receiving a complete application.
Lastly, this legislation would specify that manufactured homes are real property for the purpose of mortgages, conveyances and other land ownership matters.
Hawaii’s slow permitting process discourages innovative housing options such as the ones mentioned in this bill. According to the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawai‘i, the average permitting wait time across the state for single-family homes was 188 days over the past five years.[1]
Additionally, some manufactured homes can be built for 30 to 50% of the cost of site-built homes.[2] Considering Hawaii’s high land costs, minimizing construction costs would go a long way toward making homes more attainable for local residents.
The state also suffers from a shortage of skilled tradespeople, which causes housing projects to take longer and cost more.[3]
Creating a streamlined permitting process for homes such as these would especially help Lahaina residents who were affected by the August 2023 wildfires. People displaced by those fires could live in these units while waiting for building permits, then rent them out once their permanent homes are complete.
Some concern has been expressed that allowing more manufactured and relocatable homes could create health and safety issues; however, research demonstrates this would not be the case.
The Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies recently reviewed research on HUD standards and found that “the share of manufactured homes built in the previous decade deemed inadequate (that is, exhibiting a range of structural inadequacies, such as poorly functioning systems or significant maintenance problems) fell consistently from the 1980s through the first part of the 2000s, differing little from site-built homes after the improvements in the 1990s.”[4]
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Ted Kefalas
Director of Strategic Campaigns
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
1050 Bishop St. #508 | Honolulu, HI 96813 | 808-864-1776 | info@grassrootinstitute.org
[1] Daniela Bond-Smith, Trey Gordner, Rachel Inafuku. et al., “The Hawaii Housing Factbook 2025,” Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawai‘i, May 14, 2025, p. 27.
[2] Jon Gorey, “Home Economics: How Manufactured Housing Can Help Solve the National Housing Affordability Crisis,” Land Lines, January 2023; Daniel Janzow, “Manufactured Housing at a Crossroads,” Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Oct. 17, 2025.
[3] “Hawai‘i Skilled Trades Workforce Analysis,” Hawaii Chamber of Commerce, May 2023.
[4] Christopher Herbert, Alexander Hermann, Daniel McCue and Chadwick Reed, “A Review of Barriers to Greater Use of Manufactured Housing for Entry-Level Homeownership,” Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies, January 2024, p. 13.
