For many Maui families, purchasing a home is a pipe dream. However, there may be an opportunity for them to realize that dream, if county residents would be open to reforming local housing regulations. Maui’s complex zoning laws act as a barrier to homebuilding, according to a March 2018 audit
The Hawaii Legislature is considering forming a new state agency that would build high-rise condominium units on state land that it would sell for about $300,000 each under 99-year leases. But the proposal, called ALOHA Homes, would not be the answer to Hawaii’s housing affordability problem, according to Keli’i Akina, president of the
As Maui County lawmakers search under the couch cushions for loose change that would help them meet their budgetary goals, they should remember that finding extra cash could be easy, if they would only step out of the way of island homebuilders. That’s right: the county could boost its property
Hawaii policymakers might not have noticed, but millennials across the country are moving to the suburbs, where housing is less expensive. Not surprisingly, those suburbs generally are not in Hawaii, so if we want to make it possible for our own younger generation to stay in the islands, then we,
Oregon last month became the first state to adopt statewide mandatory rent control, which bars landlords from raising their rents more than 7 percent a year, plus inflation. On Monday, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii President Keli‘i Akina spoke on the popular national radio show “The Lars Larson Show” about how
Grassroot Scholar Randal O’Toole faults artificial land scarcity for high Hawaii home prices HONOLULU, Feb. 19, 2019 >> Hawaii has the least affordable housing of any state in the nation, and that is almost wholly because of government land-use regulations that have in effect limited housing development to just 5 percent of
Regardless of our political differences, there are a few things most residents of Hawaii can agree on: The cost of living is high, the sunsets are beautiful, and there’s not enough housing. The difficulty isn’t identifying the problem; it’s finding a solution. Unfortunately, too many of Hawaii’s policymakers believe that
A proposal to build high-rise housing in Hawaii based on the so-called Singapore model could end up costing Hawaii taxpayers dearly — and distract from implementing the more effective solution of simply streamlining land-use regulations so it would be easier to build homes. Waving the banner for this proposal is
Many Hawaii taxpayers breathed a sigh of relief after the state Supreme Court on Oct. 19 voided a ballot question that would’ve allowed the state to raise taxes on investment real property. Supporters of the proposal had argued that higher taxes could be the key to making housing in the
Should developers in Hawaii “build up” or “build out” to help ease the housing shortage in Hawaii? Randal O’Toole, land-use regulation expert and senior fellow at the Cato Institute, says higher-density zoning (building up) might not be the solution to the housing crunch; opening up more land for housing (building
For many Maui families, purchasing a home is a pipe dream. However, there may be an opportunity for them to realize that dream, if county residents would be open to reforming local housing regulations. Maui’s complex zoning laws act as a barrier to homebuilding, according to a March 2018 audit
The Hawaii Legislature is considering forming a new state agency that would build high-rise condominium units on state land that it would sell for about $300,000 each under 99-year leases. But the proposal, called ALOHA Homes, would not be the answer to Hawaii’s housing affordability problem, according to Keli’i Akina, president of the
As Maui County lawmakers search under the couch cushions for loose change that would help them meet their budgetary goals, they should remember that finding extra cash could be easy, if they would only step out of the way of island homebuilders. That’s right: the county could boost its property
Hawaii policymakers might not have noticed, but millennials across the country are moving to the suburbs, where housing is less expensive. Not surprisingly, those suburbs generally are not in Hawaii, so if we want to make it possible for our own younger generation to stay in the islands, then we,
Oregon last month became the first state to adopt statewide mandatory rent control, which bars landlords from raising their rents more than 7 percent a year, plus inflation. On Monday, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii President Keli‘i Akina spoke on the popular national radio show “The Lars Larson Show” about how
Grassroot Scholar Randal O’Toole faults artificial land scarcity for high Hawaii home prices HONOLULU, Feb. 19, 2019 >> Hawaii has the least affordable housing of any state in the nation, and that is almost wholly because of government land-use regulations that have in effect limited housing development to just 5 percent of
Regardless of our political differences, there are a few things most residents of Hawaii can agree on: The cost of living is high, the sunsets are beautiful, and there’s not enough housing. The difficulty isn’t identifying the problem; it’s finding a solution. Unfortunately, too many of Hawaii’s policymakers believe that
A proposal to build high-rise housing in Hawaii based on the so-called Singapore model could end up costing Hawaii taxpayers dearly — and distract from implementing the more effective solution of simply streamlining land-use regulations so it would be easier to build homes. Waving the banner for this proposal is
Many Hawaii taxpayers breathed a sigh of relief after the state Supreme Court on Oct. 19 voided a ballot question that would’ve allowed the state to raise taxes on investment real property. Supporters of the proposal had argued that higher taxes could be the key to making housing in the
Should developers in Hawaii “build up” or “build out” to help ease the housing shortage in Hawaii? Randal O’Toole, land-use regulation expert and senior fellow at the Cato Institute, says higher-density zoning (building up) might not be the solution to the housing crunch; opening up more land for housing (building
To the Hawaii Legislature:
Hawaii families face skyrocketing healthcare costs and a shortage of doctors. Exempting medical services from Hawaii’s general excise tax would result in millions of dollars in savings for residents and help bring doctors back.
