Erasing progress not the way to move forward

by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D., President / CEO, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii

If we want to solve Hawaii’s housing shortage, we need to embrace change.

My prime example at the moment is the importance of defending Act 39. State lawmakers enacted this landmark housing reform measure last year with the intent of expanding the use of accessory dwelling units as a way to help ease Hawaii’s housing crisis.

But a new resolution under consideration by the Honolulu City Council calls for its repeal, similar to how the Council officially opposed initial passage of the law in 2024. This is another sign of how hard it can be sometimes to enact historic legislation and make it stick.

More specifically, Act 39 gives Hawaii’s counties until the end of next year to let residents build two accessory dwelling units on their properties — a proven way to create more housing options without state funds or new development.

Hawai‘i and Kaua‘i counties have already met or exceeded the law's requirements, and Maui County has introduced legislation to update its ADU rules to comply. But on Oahu, property owners still can build only one ADU and one ohana unit, the latter of which cannot be rented out to anybody except relatives of the homeowner.

To their credit, Honolulu lawmakers have waived certain fees for ADU construction — specifically wastewater system facility charges and fees for building permits, plan reviews, grading, grubbing and stockpiling. They also have eliminated a rule that required property owners to live in either the main house or the ADU.

But the city’s parking minimums and rules about floor area ratios continue to discourage ADU construction. Permitting costs and delays also remain a major hurdle for Honolulu homeowners, and the absence of preapproved ADU building plans continues to limit how quickly projects can move forward.

In short, these regulatory barriers are a large part of why so few ADUs have been built on Oahu in recent years — and also why state-level housing reforms are so badly needed.

The good news is that Act 39 has a clause that says any county that does not conform to the act by the end of 2026 will be barred from denying “any permit application on the basis of exceeding the maximum number of housing units” — as long as the applicants have met the general infrastructure, design or development standards.

But if the law were to be overturned, that obviously would no longer be the case.

Let’s not let that happen. Erasing progress is not the way to move forward.

Instead of weakening or overturning established housing reforms, our efforts would be better spent making sure these measures are implemented effectively, to deliver the benefits local residents need.

E hana kākou! (Let's work together!)