Fixing Hawaiʻi’s Affordability Problem

by OHA Trustee Keli‘i Akina, PhD, KWO, January 1, 2026

It is often said that everyone in Hawaiʻi is in the same waʻa or canoe. While that’s a wonderful thing when it comes to the beauty of our people and ʻāina, it’s also true of the cost it takes to live here. Whether Native Hawaiian, long-term kamaʻāina or recent arrival, more residents than ever before are finding that Hawaiʻi is a place where they simply cannot afford to live.

A new statewide survey from the Holomua Collective reveals a troubling reality: Nearly one in three respondents (29%) now expect they will relocate to a less expensive state, up from 26% last year.

At the heart of this trend is Hawaiʻi’s soaring cost of living. Housing is the primary driver: 55% of respondents identified housing costs as the number one reason they feel financially strained, and 88% ranked it among their top three concerns. Two-thirds of the survey’s participants reported spending more than 30% of their income on housing – a widely recognized marker of being “housing cost-burdened.”

Other major financial pressures include stagnant wages, high taxes, and the ever-increasing cost of food and utilities. Even households earning more than $150,000 – traditionally considered stable middle-class – reported feeling financially squeezed. Last year, this threshold was around $100,000, signaling how quickly affordability challenges have escalated.

The impact of Hawaii’s economic condition on Native Hawaiians is well known. Native Hawaiians are overrepresented among lower-income households and renters, making them especially vulnerable to rising costs. Limited access to affordable housing and the ongoing strain of meeting basic needs help explain why more than half of all Native Hawaiians now live outside Hawaiʻi.

Even non-Native Hawaiians are experiencing the same challenges. Forty-two percent of all respondents to the Holomua survey said it has become “very difficult” to save money from their paychecks, up from 34% last year. Many expressed that financial insecurity is now interfering with life decisions like starting a family, pursuing higher education, or buying a home.

So, what can be done?

During the recent federal government shutdown, public and private entities rolled out emergency programs to support vulnerable populations, including SNAP recipients. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs was among the agencies that responded. Although well- intentioned, these efforts do not tackle the long-term solutions required to make Hawaiʻi more affordable.

One of those solutions has been recently highlighted by Hawaiʻi’s Sen. Brian Schatz, who directly links excessive government regulation, particularly in housing, to the high cost of living in Hawaiʻi, calling it a “tragedy of the government’s own making.” He argues that a “thicket of regulations and requirements, and reviews” have made it “virtually impossible to build” needed housing, thereby driving up prices.

Schatz believes that “we just need to get out of our own way and let people build.” That’s why he has introduced bipartisan legislation to address the lack of housing, including the Build More Housing Near Transit Act and the YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard) Act.

What I like about Schatz’s approach is that it aims at a root cause of the cost-of-living problem – government over-regulation that prevents the building of houses people can afford. And solving that problem will help everyone, Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians.

I believe there are lots of other things the state can do (or stop doing) to bring Hawaiʻi’s cost of living down for everyone. These include tightening its belt, cutting wasteful government spending, and reducing the tax burden on individuals and businesses like the GET.

The good thing about realizing we are all in the same waʻa is that a rising tide raises all boats. Let’s pursue solutions that raise the tide!

E hana kākou!