Senate Standing Committee on Housing

Good afternoon. The Committee on Transportation and the Committee on Housing is on its hearing notice of Tuesday, 03/24/2026 in Room 225, I believe. I think we're in 225, yes. And, we will be, it's a joint with the committees as well.

One second, trying to get this.

We would like to welcome you all for this nice Tuesday and looking forward to the holiday coming up. And we'll ask the testifiers to please stand on your written testimony. And we're going to limit it to two minutes as well. Decision making is going to follow this one measure that we have before us.

And so, with that we'll proceed with SCR 110 and SR 103. And it's requesting the Department of Transportation in coordination with the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to convene a working group to evaluate the feasibility of establishing state owned or state controlled warehouse and logistics facilities, new ports, harbors, and airports to reduce material costs associated with public financed housing projects. And, DOT.

Hi. Good afternoon. Chair, vice chair, members of the committees. Robin Shishido.

Aloha, Robin.

HDOT. Hi. And, standby are written submitted testimony in support with comments. Thank you.

Thank you. HHFDC. Aloha.

Aloha, Good afternoon, chair, vice chair, members....[inaudible].

Thanks so much. There's an individual who speaks in support, Johnnie-Mae Perry, and let's see.

Okay. Is there anyone else wishes to speak to SCR 110 and SR 103?

There is also, a Dean similar communication on the, SR?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone wishing to speak to these two resolutions before us? SCR 110 and SR 103. Okay.

Hearing none. Any other communications? discussions?

Hearing none. Chair, shall we go into decision making then?

Okay.

We won't IT, we won't go into recess. Chairs already has made decisions and will be going into the recommendations as well. The decisions we have before us, we're gonna pass this measure that in, includes as members of the working group, and we forgot one group.

We forgot that and the recommendation that the chairperson of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transportation, or its designee, and the chairperson of the standing committee in the Senate on Transportation onto the working group.

And so that's the recommendation that we have on this measure.

For?

ICA COR.

Okay, good. For the Committee on Transportation, chair's recommendation is to pass the amendments with the members of the working group, which is the chairperson of the House of Representative and the chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Transportation. Okay. Any discussions?

Hearing none.

Madam chair, may I take the vote?

Senator Kanuha for the vote for the Committee on Water and Land.

For both.

I mean, sorry.

Transportation.

Reverse. I was there. Committee on Transportation.

SCR 110 and SR 103. Recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair Inouye?

Aye.

Senator Elefante is excused.

I vote aye. Senator Lee is excused. Senator DeCorte?

Aye.

That was for both resolutions, SCR 110 and SR 103. Recommendations adopted.

And same recommendation for the committee on housing for SCR 110 and SR 103 to pass with amendments. Chair votes aye.

Thank you.

Members, chair's recommendations pass with amendments. Chair votes aye. Vice chair votes aye. Senator Elefante is excused. Senator Rhoads?

Aye.

Senator Fevella is excused. Chair recommendations adopted.

Thank you.

Okay. That was great. This concludes then the joint committee on transportation and the committee on housing.

Good afternoon. The committee on Housing is back for its 01:05pm agenda, with two measures on it. And just also will note that we have two following agendas after this. We have a 01:06pm reconsideration, and we have another 01:06pm deferred decision making. We have a one minute per time limit per testify.

And if there are temporary technical glitches during your attempt to testify via Zoom, we may have to move on to the next person due to time constraints. We appreciate your understanding and remind you that the committee has your written testimony.

First bill today is HB 1732 HD2 relating to Housing, which establishes the Kamaʻaina Homes Program within the HHFDC to provide funding to the counties to purchase voluntary deed restrictions from eligible homebuyers. Sunset 6/30/2032.

First testifier is HHFDC in support.

HHFDC in support.

Thank you. Hawaii Department of Taxation with comments.

[inaudible].

Thank you. Kaua‘i County Housing Agency in support.

Aloha, Chair Chang, Vice Chair Hashimoto, Adam Roversi, the Director of the Kaua‘i County Housing Agency. We'll stand by our testimony and support with, some proposed amendments for your consideration. Would happily answer any questions if you have any about our proposed amendments. Thank you.

Thank you. Aloha United Way in support. AARP Hawaii in support. Tradewind group.

Good afternoon, Chair Chang, Senator Hashimoto, members of the committee. I'm Audrey Suga Nakagawa from AARP, and we stand in strong support of this particular bill. AARP really appreciates these very innovative initiatives that try to address our housing shortage in the State of Hawaii, and we know that there needs to be a multi pronged approach as in our trying to solve this issue.

For AARP, of course, we always support housing for affordable housing for Kupuna, but we also are worried about the families, the working families who are leaving our state and leaving behind their Kupuna or forcing their kupuna to leave with them to another state because it's not affordable here. So, for these reasons we really feel that this type of housing projects are very important to help resolve the solution.

We also know that there's an acute shortage, especially in the health and long term care field. So, I guess we don't have the workforce, We're not able to support our Kupuna to age in place in Hawaii. So thank you again for the opportunity to testify in strong support.

Thank you very much. Tradewind Group in support. Hawaii Realtors with comments.

[inaudible].

Thank you. Tax Foundation of Hawaii with comments.

Not present on Zoom, chair.

Thank you. Hawaii Community Foundation in support. Hawaii YIMBY in support. Oh.

Sorry, I'm Elise Inouye from The Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, we stand our written testimony and strong support on this measure

Thank you. Hawaii YIMBY in support.

Aloha chair, vice chair, members, Damien Waikoloa on behalf of Hawai‘i YIMBY. We wanna stand on our written testimony in support for HB 1732 for the Kama'aina Homes bill. We would like to further emphasize that we know there's no single fix to our housing crisis, and we need both short and long term solutions to address it. We believe this program would be one of many important tools that can help us.

We're sure we have many current and future residents who would want to do their part to keep homes in the hands of long term local residents and we should be incentivizing them to do that.

Further, we believe that this bill will help us build a future where our Keiki and future generations have a real chance to afford to live, work, and stay in Hawaii. So we respectfully ask for your support and Mahalo for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you very much. Kapolei Chamber of Commerce in support.

Good afternoon chair, vice chair, members of the committee. Kiran Polk, Executive Director & CEO of the Kapolei Chamber of Commerce and we also stand in support of this measure. You know, like the other testimonies testers mentioned, we need multiple approaches to our affordable housing crisis. And this helps dedicate houses housing for our local residents, provide down payment assistance, and most importantly it gives our Kamaʻāina, just a hope that they can stay here and put down roots.

And so we thank you for this opportunity, to push this measure forward, and we extend Mahalo.

Thank you. We have Housing Hawaii's Future in support.

Aloha, chair, vice chair. First and foremost, mahalo for hearing this measure today. We stand in strong support of this measure, House bill 1732. And just building on the testimony that we submitted, the written testimony that we submitted, we just wanna note that there is a lot of momentum on the county side with regards to deed restrictions and deed restriction programs. Last year, Bill 57 was enacted by the Maui County Council.

Meanwhile, as of this moment, Bill 2985 of the Kauai County Council is presently moving. We are sincerely hopeful that these measures demonstrate that the counties are ready and willing to participate in deed restriction programs. With that said, we are fully aware that no single idea will end Hawaii's chronic housing shortage.

However, at least in the case of our neighbor islands, where the generation of housing supply alone does not end the chronic housing shortage, we're hopeful that deed restriction programs will play a part in preserving housing supply. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii in support. Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice in support.

Chair, vice chair, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. I'm Arjuna Heim on behalf of Hawaii Appleseed in strong support of the bill. We wanna note acknowledge that there's been a lot of emphasis on the Vail Indeed program, but it's important that this is not a one to one copy of Vail. Uses similar deed restriction concepts, but it's designed to give Hawaii counties far more freedom to shape the program to local needs.

You know, I'm not gonna go over what this bill, allows people to do given that other testifiers already talked about it.

But what's important is that it lets counties use state match funds to create a deed restriction they hold as equity in property. And within the framework, the counties have real discretion. They can target at risk neighborhoods, prioritize essential workers, integrate ADUs, and partner with nonprofits or community land trusts to build lasting stock of homes dedicated to people who keep our communities running.

So while the Vail idea shows the basics that it can work, the bill is really about giving Hawaii's counties more tools in their toolbox for flexible locally controlled to keep homes in the hands of local working families. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next, we have Title Guaranty of Hawai‘i in support. LIMBY Hawaiʻi in opposition.

Aloha, senators. While we generally love the idea of derestricted housing set aside in perpetuity for local folks, we think that this bill lacks adequate safeguards to achieve that. While they're now deemphasizing Vail, the the bill does substantially follow Vail.

And we think that if you look at the Vail model, most of these the records for which are publicly available both tax records, rents, and which properties are in it, you're seeing a clear pattern of unaffordability and no indication that it has increased local ownership or affordability for locals.

So same as we did last year, you know, we think that this could be modified, amended substantially to get the local presidents to get actually affordability, but that's not in the language of the bill, and it's not, mechanisms that are available to the counties under this bill.

So for that reason, we oppose this measure. We think it's a waste of money that targets the top of the income bracket, not the ones that need it most. And fundamentally, a bill that cannot distinguish between, Amazon remote worker who's renting or buying a Kakako penthouse and a hotel worker who is struggling to make ends meet, whether that be on Kauai, Maui, or Hawaii Island, or Oahu, is not a bill that actually understands what's needed.

This bill does not make that distinguish and does not provide comments with the tool to do that. Thank you.

Thank you. Holomua Collaborative in support.

Aloha, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. Matt Probert for Holomua Collaborative, and we stand in strong support of support of HB 1732. We know the speculative investment in out of state buyers with no intention of making Hawaii home or outbidding locals living in and looking to return to Hawaii. We need to utilize a menu of options to preserve opportunities for local families to access housing and to move back from the continent.

While HHFDC programs in existence and potential programs already passed by this committee in SB 2424 and HB 1740 would incentivize development in a larger scale, This bill is a great intermediary to dedicate already existing housing units to local families.

While we wait for new construction to come online, this immediate buy and preserve strategy will keep our existing housing inventory in local hands today. We do respectfully request the committee to make two amendments based on some concerns raised in opposition to this measure.

First, an amendment for the purpose section of the bill to clarify that volume and use of deed restrictions in Vail was suggested language laid out in our written testimony.

Second, regarding the ability of out of state and corporate ownership, this was not the intent of the original measure as is shown by the initial homebuyer requirements, which do not allow for either. Accordingly, we do request an amendment to Section 201 HE to require the same requirements for initial homebuyers be applied to subsequent homebuyers.

Available for any questions. Mahalo.

Thank you very much. Sam Dorios in support.

Hi. Yes. I am in strong support of this bill and I just wanna add some color to my testimony, which I stand on, mostly because of what I heard. I know, you know, about the breadth of this situation, housing crisis, where you can't have teachers, nurses stay here, they're leaving because they can't afford it. I don't think you're aware of the depth.

I'm a professional. I make good living. My wife is a tenured professor at UH Manoa. We've had we just had a child last, two years ago. We've been searching for housing.

We can't find it. We can't afford it. I don't have debt. We're very frugal and we still can't afford housing. We have friends who are professionals leaving.

My wife's department, she's over the past ten years since she's been here, three people, two of them were tenured, one was tenure track, have left because they're like, we just can't afford to live here anymore. This isn't just working class families. This isn't just top of the lot or just bottom people who just can't make it here anymore. Right? You're losing really good, hardworking professionals who care about this place and want Hawaii to be great.

So yeah. So to the comment of, oh, it only helps the top people. Well, everyone needs this. Thank you.

Thank you. We have a number number of other individuals in support, and it's a long list, so I won't read them all. Is there anyone else who would like to testify in House Bill 1732?

Hello, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. Hello for hearing this bill. My name is Chevelle Davis. I did submit written testimony, and I'm glad I was able to make it here today to to underscore that support in person. My background is a public health researcher.

I study how systems and the environment impact the health and well including housing, impact the health and well-being for women and children across the Pa'aina. So the lack of affordable housing is not just a cost of living issue. It is also a health care workforce and access issue like most folks testified here today.

When providers cannot afford to live here, we struggle to recruit and retain health care professionals, thereby further limiting access to care for our communities across the state, exacerbating existing health disparities and creating new ones. A physician I work with who flies to neighboring islands every month to provide care spent spent several years trying to purchase a home only to be consistently outbid by nonresident buyers with greater financial resources.

You know, this is a physician who makes well into the 6 figures, and they also struggle to to secure housing. On a personal level, my family has been in Hawaii for generations, and we are consistently confronting the question of whether or not we need to leave. Mahalo.

Is there anyone else wishing to testify on House Bill 1732?

If not, any questions or discussion members?

Okay. If not, we'll move on to the next item on our agenda today, which is, two items, SCR 46 and SR 45, supporting the use of the dwelling unit revolving fund to fund redevelopment costs for any government affordable housing development project through interim loans to expedite the delivery of affordable housing to Hawaii's residents.

And on these two measures, we'll be hearing them simultaneously. We have first HHFDC in support.

[inaudible].

Thank you. Followed by OPSD in support.

Aloha, chair, vice, chair, members of the committee. [inaudible].....

Thank you very much. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on these two resolutions, SCR 46 and SR 45?

Okay. If not, any discussion or questions, members?

Okay. If not, shall we go into decision making or do we need to talk shop a little bit first?

Okay, I think we can go straight into decision making then. We'll start with HB 1732 HD2 relating to Housing. You know, first of all, chair appreciates the amount of work that's gone into this bill over the years and the amount of organization that's gone into this bill. Chair still feels that this is a work in progress and that we're not necessarily fully there yet, but we'll keep the discussion alive by recommending this measure be passed with amendments.

First Amendment would be to change the funding source from DIRF to the rental housing revolving fund.

On page seven, we'll change the county match to 3 county dollars for every 1 state dollar. On page seven, line 19, we have a maximum of $2,000,000 we'll make it a pilot program for one county. We'll require annual reporting to the legislature. We'll take the Kauai County housing agency's requested amendment to expand the approved trigger events to include simply acquiring a deed restriction on existing homes already occupied by an eligible owner or tenant, but we won't take their further requested amendments.

And we'll also take the Holomua Collaborative proposed amendments to require subsequent home subsequent homebuyers to meet the requirements of initial eligible homebuyer, including requiring citizenship in The United States or being a resident alien, is a resident domiciled in the state, at least 18 years of age, agrees to comply with annual reporting requirements pursuant to Section 208-F, owns no other real property with a deed restriction under this program, and six meets any other qualifications established by rules adopted by the corporation or county.

And further, we'll amend section one to read as of 2026, Vail Indeed has permanently secured 178 deed restricted residences for local working residents. And through this program, in conjunction with other government programs in Vail that has secured over a thousand deed restricted residences for local working residents. Vail has now more attainable housing options for local working residents and created a culture in which Vail residents want to live in and support deed restricted residences. In the committee report, we'll will note several items.

First, that the program wouldn't necessarily facilitate the creation of new housing, that the homes that participate in the program may or may not be the ones likely to be purchased by non residents, and that residents might simply collect a windfall to sell a deed restriction that they would nevertheless continue living in for a very long time to come.

We'll note that the state will not recover the costs it incurs with this program if the program is used in the manner its proponents intend. We'll note the limited scope of the Vail Indeed program and the significant differences between Vail, which has a smaller than 5,000 population and pretty much one single industry, and even the smallest county in Hawaii, which would be much larger and which would have a much broader economic base.

We'll note that it will cost a lot of money and possibly cover only a small fraction of the state's housing inventory even after decades of appropriations, much of which would have been occupied by full time residents anyway. I just did a back of the envelope calculation.

At 8%, which would be the cost of these deed restrictions over the 300,000 housing units on Oahu, that would cost $19,200,000,000 to deed restrict all the housing units on Oahu, which is obviously an amount of money that is not realistic, for the states or for the counties.

Also note that most housing in Hawaii is occupied by full time residents, and the neighborhoods that aren't, were often purpose built for nonresident use, such as Wailea or Ko'olina. I'll just note that even in my district, a neighborhood like Waialae Kahala, which might have the reputation for being occupied by nonresidents, is actually the great majority of the residences are indeed occupied by, full time residents. And, we'll finally note the Maui and Kauai County deed restriction programs that are moving forward without the incentives in this bill.

Members, do we have any discussion?

If not, for HB 1732 HD 2, chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair votes aye.

Members, chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair votes aye. Vice chair votes aye. Senator Elefante?

Aye.

Senator Rhoads?

Aye.

Senator Fevella is excused. Chair recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. For SCR 46 and SR 45, Chair's recommendation will be to pass this measure unamended. If not, again, SCR 46 and SR 45. Chair's recommendation is to pass unamended. Chair votes aye.

[Roll Call]

Thank you very much.

And thank you very much for all—to all the testifiers. This hearing is adjourned, but we'll move straight into our next agenda, which is the 1:06 PM reconsideration. We'll be reconsidering House Bill 1920, HD 1, relating to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which we did pass with amendments last week. Unfortunately, we got it wrong with the amendments, and so, we'll need to be reconsidering this bill.

So, the committee's intent was to apply this bill only to tax credits issued after new tax credits issued after 07/01/2026 to prevent windfall profits to the holders of existing tax credits.

And I was informed that the language that we adopted last week did not do so. So.

I'm not sure how to make this motion. So, I need to recon—or you just reconsider. And then on the vote sheet, there's a thing that says reconsider.

Okay. And then, do we make a new motion too?

Yeah.

Okay. All right. So, do we have any discussion or questions, members?

Okay. If not, so, Chair's recommendation would be to reconsider HB 1920. Chair votes aye.

You don't have to vote on the considerations. Just when you, when you do the bull shoot, there's a thing that says reconsidered, and just say that and then, do the recommendation and we vote on the recommendation.

Okay. So, the chair will recommend reconsidering its previous decision on this measure and will further recommend that we pass HB 1920 with amendments. The amendments will be to apply only to tax credits issued after 07/01/2026. On page two—and on page two, line one, specify four credits issued after 07/01/2026. And we'll further, in the committee report, note the inefficiency of financing housing projects with a state tax credit that sells for 60¢ on the dollar.

It would be more fiscally efficient to collect the full value of the tax and make a direct appropriation to projects the legislature deems to be in the state interest. Do you have any discussion?

Just a question. So, that's, that's some modifying the original bill or the bills that came on the committee or is that modifying the bill that we've worn out and the like?

Yeah. So, the bill that we amended would've, the, the—would be SD 1, included a slightly different version of that language that did not accomplish that.

So, your recommendation was based on the original—the bills that originally came to the committee?

The HD 1.

Okay. Okay. Thanks.

That's right. Further questions or discussion? Okay. So, again, the motion is to reconsider HB 1920 and to pass with the new amendments. I just—Chair votes aye.

[Roll Call]

Thank you very much, and that brings us to the end of the reconsideration decision making at 1:06. We'll move next to the 1:06 PM deferred decision making on HB 1718. This measure was deferred from last week, and we've had a chance to, to look at some further amendments to address some of the concerns of the committee members. So, chair's recommendation for HB 1718, HD 1, relating to housing will be to pass this measure with amendments.

The amendments will be to further defect the date. We'll also confine this authority to mixed-use, transit-oriented developments that include housing along a locally preferred alternative for a mass transit system. We'll further amend Section 54 to delete, "And shall be repealed on 06/30/2028, provided that Section 46-15.1 HRS shall be reenacted in the form in which it read on the day before the effective date on this act."

And we'll add the language, "Provided that the amendments made to Section 46-15.1 by Section 2 of this act shall only apply to bonds originally issued prior to 07/01/2033 and shall not be repealed when that section is reenacted on."

And we'll further insert, "The authority provided under Section 46-15.1 HRS, as amended by this act, shall continue to apply to any mixed use development project for which, prior to 07/01/2033, the county has obtained county council approval or entered into a binding agreement, including a purchase agreement, predevelopment agreement, development agreement, or ground lease, committing the county to the acquisition and or development of the property for mixed-use development."

"Any such project shall be deemed vested and may proceed to completion, notwithstanding any subsequent repeal or modification of the authority provided under this section." Any discussion or questions? Seeing none, chair's recommendation will be to pass HB 1718, HD 1, with amendments. Chair votes aye.

[Roll Call]

Thank you very much. And the chair further wants to thank the vice chair for working hard on those amendments. There being no further business, the Committee on Housing is adjourned.