Big Isle measure pushes
middle-income housing

The Council pressures developers
to build more affordable units

HILO » Hawaii County Council members are hoping for a dramatic expansion of affordable housing on the Big Island with the approval last week of a bill increasing housing requirements from developers.

For any development with more than four units, 20 percent of the units must be affordable to a family of four earning the county's median income, about $51,000. The former requirement was 10 percent.

The actual price tag is $203,000.

Developers could previously escape the affordable requirement by paying the county $4,720 a unit. The new law requires at least $49,000 per unit if the units are not built.

The intent is to deliberately set the payment high so that developers will prefer to build homes, said Council Chairman Gary Safarik.

"This is clearly an attempt to dramatically increase affordable housing," said Council member Pete Hoffmann. "We have a huge gap in this issue," he said.

While a building boom is continuing in West Hawaii, none of it is in the affordable range, Safarik said.

A purchase price of $203,000 might seem cheap compared with Honolulu prices, but it still leaves many people unable to buy, Safarik said. "They can't get into the system," he said.

The bill provides extra credits to developers who create homes under $200,000. But more changes will be needed to help the "working poor" who cannot afford a mortgage but also cannot afford rapidly increasing rents, Safarik said.

Compared with Hawaii County's new 20 percent requirement, Honolulu has a 30 percent requirement. But the two numbers are "apples and oranges" because of geographic and economic differences, Hoffmann said.

While the Council boosted housing last week, it also limited new resorts and urban growth by passing a revised version of the county General Plan, which guides all growth on the island.

The new plan eliminates "floating zones" that would have permitted resorts almost anywhere. It also designates "important agricultural lands," on the Hamakua Coast, for example, making them difficult to convert to urban uses.

Both the housing bill and the General Plan are expected to be signed by Mayor Harry Kim.