Concerns about residents being priced out of living in Hawaii were expressed at a daylong hearing Friday as the Department of Planning and Permitting considers adjusting affordable housing requirement rules.
One amendment would increase maximum monthly rent limits on affordable housing units for households with 80% area median income or below, while another would remove existing requirements that applicants for an affordable housing unit loan have “sufficient gross household income” and spend no more than 33% of their gross household income on monthly housing payments.
A decision is left to DPP Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna and Deputy Director Jiro Sumada.
Joli Tokusato, who provided testimony representing Unite Here Local 5, representing 10,000 hospitality, health care and food service workers in the state, said the union opposes the amendments.
“The proposed amendments weaken the definition of affordable rather than actually making housing more affordable,” she said at the hearing. “If developers cannot sell units at the desired prices due to buyers not being able to qualify for mortgages at those prices, the solution is simple: Developers should mark down their units and put them on sale, instead of raising the prices.”
Tokusato also said that loosening requirements on what proportion of gross household income is spent on housing payments would invite more working families to spend more on their housing costs — something she said is already being done and is “not something policymakers should expect.”
“Working families may be able to spend more than 33% of their income on housing payments. Many already do, so long as their employment status does not change and they don’t face unexpected expenses. This is not a good thing,” Tokusato said. “The housing crisis has gotten so bad in Hawaii that the population is declining. Our family members are moving away in search of lives they can afford.”
Lin Wong, a DPP staff planner who is involved in implementing the Affordable Housing Requirement Rules, took time off of work to testify as a private citizen at Friday’s hearing. She said she is opposed to the amendment that would raise maximum monthly rent limits for households with 80% area median income or below, for multiple reasons.
Wong said that the amendment would “significantly increase the maximum rent for these households” and that under current rules, affordable rentals “are not truly affordable.” She said that with the new limits, rent for studio units could increase by approximately $270, one-
bedroom units by approximately $250 and two-bedroom units by approximately $110.
Wong also said that the amendment would “disproportionately impact the most vulnerable households,” with households earning 80% area median income or below having “the most severe housing cost burden for rentals.”
“It is in the public interest for us, the city, as well as developers to explore ways to increase supply of affordable housing without increasing the cost burden to this income group which can least afford it,” Wong said.
Lydia Agustin, a former housekeeper at the Moana Surfrider and a member of Unite Here Local 5, immigrated to Hawaii from the Philippines in 1989. She said she worries about her ability to afford rent after she retires.
“We came here thinking that we’d change our lives, but it looks like the Philippines,” she said in her testimony. “It’s so hard to live here.”
Agustin said her son, who also lives in Hawaii, wants to buy a house but questions how he would be able to afford that as prices continue to rise.
“My son, he lives here, and they want to buy a house here,” she said. “But how can they afford to buy a house on minimum wages and (as) hotel workers? It is so hard. That’s why we are here to testify, because if you guys can, do something else and think about us, the worker people, here.”
Agustin ended her testimony with a message to the department to prioritize the needs of the working people.
“Think community. We are the ones to support you in Hawaii and make it better here,” she said. “How can you forget us, our working people? Please, please listen to us as community working people.”
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