Senate Ways and Means passes bills to address housing shortage issues in Hawaiʻi

The Hawai‘i State Senate’s Ways and Means Committee has advanced two bills that aim to provide major funding to address the state’s housing shortage. 

• SB3359 would provide
  • $600 million to the Department of Hawaiian Homeland’s Native Hawaiian Rehabilitation Fund. 
    • $487,614,000 will go towards the preparation and development of 2,910 new lots across the state; and
    • $112,386,000 will be allocated for down payment assistance or mortgage assistance. 
• SB2372 would provide
  • The Hawai‘i Housing Finance and Development Corporation with $300 million for the Rental Housing Revolving Fund to rehabilitate 800 affordable housing units and develop 1,938 new affordable housing units across the state
  • and $10 million for the Dwelling Unit Revolving Fund to create a Dwelling Unit Revolving Fund Equity Program. This would be a pilot program established under Chapter 201H-191 of the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes to address the high unmet demand of for-sale units by Hawai‘i residents, specifically the 120% Area Median income and lower thresholds. 

“The Senate has been working tirelessly to find meaningful solutions to address the State’s housing shortage,” said Senator Donovan Dela Cruz, chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. “Recognizing the need to reduce the DHHL waitlist and provide adequate funding for the department to develop new homes, coupled with the lack of real affordable housing options for local residents, it is our hope that these bills will go a long way in getting as much people into homes as possible.”

The two bills now go before the full Senate for a vote.