Our Homes - Ending the Housing Crisis: Hawaii’s Need for Affordable Housing
Our Homes: Ending the Housing CrisisShow Notes
Edward Pinto and Tobias Peter discuss their research on housing and the housing crisis in Hawaii. Hawaii has the highest median home price in the country, second highest cost of rent, and second highest rate of homelessness per capita. The plunge in Hawaii’s housing market began in the early 1970s when the state passed environmental and land usage policies causing a housing shortage and increase in housing prices. There is dire need for affordable housing in Hawaii but the state is predicted to face a shortage of 60,000 housing units by 2025.
Edward Pinto is a senior fellow and the director of the Housing Center at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He is currently researching ways of increasing the entry-level housing supply for first-time buyers and renters who earn hourly wages, as well as examining the current house price boom that began in 2012. Tobias Peter is a research fellow and the assistant director of the AEI’s Housing Center, where he focuses on housing risk and mortgage markets. Peter wrote a variety of reports on housing policy, specifically on the impact of federal policy on housing demand and homeownership, housing finance risks, and first-time home buyers. His pieces have been published in policy journals and in the popular press, including in The Wall Street Journal, American Banker, and Business Insider. This episode of Our Homes is hosted by Senator Stanley Chang.
More from Our Homes: Ending the Housing Crisis
Senator Chang hosted Professors Justin Tyndall and Limin Fang from UHERO for a data-driven discussion on Hawaiʻi’s housing supply challenges and policy solutions.
More than just housing, Arbor 515 gives Salt Lake City residents the opportunity to build a future. The new development, a conversion of a former office building financed by Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), provides housing for residents earning between 25% and 55% of the area median income while also offering a unique opportunity to build equity.
In this episode of Our Homes, Ellen Carson and Keith Webster (advocates for Faith Action for Community Equity, a nonprofit focusing on housing and homelessness solutions) speak about an empty homes tax under consideration by the Honolulu City Council. Modeled after Vancouver, Canada’s tax, Honolulu’s proposal would be levied on an empty home’s assessed value, on a graduated rate with a 3 year phase. Faith Action for Community Equity believes this would disincentivize non-resident buyers and create a funding mechanism to support more housing construction and homeless services.
In this episode of Our Homes, Dr. Cameron Murray, Australian economist and author of “The Great Housing Hijack,” speaks about the myths surrounding housing markets in Australia and elsewhere. Murray believes that high housing cost jurisdictions suffer from inequitable distribution of housing, not mere supply shortage. These housing shortages have been observed over the centuries, meaning that regulation alone cannot explain them. An alternative to the free market is required to aid those who cannot access a home. Jurisdictions need to implement a low-price alternative to rent or buy homes, like the Singapore model, which is already available to certain groups in Australia, like military servicemembers. This episode of Our Homes was hosted by Senator Stanley Chang.
In this episode of Our Homes, Kenzie Bok, the Administrator for the Boston Housing Authority (BHA), shares BHA’s plan to end the City’s housing shortage in part by building 3,000 mixed-income Faircloth units. This decision was spurred by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s decision to almost triple the subsidy amount available for Faircloth units. The authority has currently identified two sites, and Bok speaks on the current obstacles and the importance of their mixed-income, mixed-use, and revenue neutral building plans. Bok further speaks on the necessity of government’s role as provider of safe and affordable housing. This episode of Our Homes was hosted by Senator Stanley Chang.