Emergency proclamation aims to speed up housing | News, Sports, Jobs

Hale Mahaolu Ewalu’s 22-unit Phase II is shown under construction in January 2020. Gov. Josh Green has issued a one-year emergency proclamation in hopes of streamlining development approvals and getting housing built quicker for Hawaii residents who are being priced out of the islands. He says the expedited process will only apply to projects that do not have environmental or cultural sensitivity issues. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Gov. Josh Green issued an emergency proclamation Monday to help housing get built quicker and alleviate the “crisis” Hawaii residents face as thousands relocate to find housing.

The proclamation will streamline development approvals and allow third parties to do some of this work, Green said, “but at no time are we going to defy what’s important, which is protecting our environment.” He said conservation land and important agricultural land will not be affected.

Green stressed why the emergency proclamation — which is usually issued in times of immediate crisis such as a weather disasters or during the COVID-19 pandemic — is needed.

“We don’t have enough houses for our people, it is really that simple,” Green said during a news conference at the Office of the Governor’s ceremonial room at the State Capitol Monday afternoon. “That is where we are, we are struggling and suffering because that is the case.”

He said the symptoms of not having enough affordable housing can be seen in such instances as a lack of nurses, a firefighter having to work overtime or a child not having a permanent teacher.

Gov. Josh Green speaks during a news conference in Honolulu on Monday afternoon, during which he declared a housing emergency in hopes of speeding up housing developments. Photos courtesy Governor’s Office

“If that’s not a crisis, that is not an emergency, I don’t know what is,” Green said.

Currently 50,000 housing units are needed in the next five years to begin addressing the housing crisis, according to Green’s office.

Statistics from Green’s office said that another 12,000 housing units may be made possible under the emergency proclamation, which will last for one year and allow projects without environmental and cultural issues to proceed faster.

Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen who appeared remotely at the news conference, applauded Green’s “bold move.”

“Today’s actions will help to accelerate solutions and ultimately put more of our kamaaina into homes,” Bissen said.

Central Maui state Rep. Troy Hashimoto speaks during a news conference in Honolulu on Monday afternoon, during which the governor declared a housing emergency. Hashimoto chairs the House of Representatives’ Housing Committee. Photos courtesy Governor’s Office

He said that over the past few months, he and his team have visited the communities in the county and “the distress of not being able to find and afford a place to rent or purchase is at a crisis point.”

Maui County does not currently have any projects on a list of housing developments that can immediately benefit from provisions under the proclamation, according to Green’s office.

But Maui County has approximately 11,000 units in the pipeline, according to preliminary information from Green’s office. The larger projects include 3,300 units in Maui Lani in Central Maui, of which 20 percent are affordable units, and 1,500 units in the Waikapu Country Town development, of which 30 percent are affordable units.

The Maui Lani project is under construction and the Waikapu project is in the planning and design stage.

Central Maui state Rep. Troy Hashimoto, who is the chairman of the House Committee on Housing, said at the news conference, “Building housing is difficult as we know and this proclamation is an experiment to see if we can build faster in a shorter period of time by easing many rules and processes to help alleviate an incredibly huge crisis.”

“Monitoring and understanding what works and what doesn’t will be critically important as at some point we will have to go back to regular order. But we need permanent fixes which will have to be changed by the Legislature and the County Councils to see long term progress.”

Hashimoto said if he and fellow legislators see results from the proclamation it will make their jobs easier in “passing longer-term legislation” to help the housing crisis.

Beginning next month, a “Build Beyond Barriers” working group and lead housing officer will start gathering to review projects that may qualify to move quicker on the approval process, said Nani Medeiros, chief housing officer for the Office of the Governor.

She said if the group meets in person “every two weeks” to discuss projects she will “see it as a win.”

There will also be opportunity for the public to give input on the projects being reviewed by the working group.

Medeiros and Green’s team have spoken to and met with more than 200 individuals, including environmentalists, developers, Native Hawaiian groups and state and county agencies.

The working group will include the executive director of the Sierra Club of Hawai’i; a Hawaiian Electric Co. or Kauai Island Utility Cooperative depending on where the project is located; representatives from state agencies, including the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, Department of Land and Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Division; and county agencies, including county mayors of the island where the project is located, county permitting and regulatory agency representatives of the island where the project is located and county department of water supply representatives of the island where the project is located.

If there are significant environmental concerns the project will still have to follow the state environmental review process under Chapter 343 of the Hawaii Revised Statues. If no significant concerns are found, the project will qualify for a suspension of Chapter 343.

Green’s office said that Hawaii continues to rank among the top in the nation for median home prices, cost of living, most unaffordable market and level of housing regulations. It also takes three times longer to obtain a building permit in Hawaii than the national average, as a University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization report found last year. Regulations add between $233,000 to $325,000 to the cost of a new home in Hawaii.

In an email Monday afternoon, Bissen said the county will be encouraging applications from those seeking assistance from the emergency proclamation.

But the county does understand “that the emergency proclamation is designed to enable efficiency and expediency without jeopardizing public safety, cultural and natural resource protection.”

“We will also be conducting internal reviews of our existing processes, coordination points and reviewing procedures,” Bissen said. “Recognizing that Governor Green has provided a tool to get projects in the pipeline moving forward and over the finish line, our intention is to make best use of the proclamation that Governor Green has provided to be able to put more people in much needed homes in our county.”

* Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

The Maui News Maui County Department of Finance Director Scott Teruya was placed on administrative leave on last ...

Holy Innocents Episcopal Church, formerly on Front Street in Lahaina Town and destroyed by the fire, announced the ...

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7rq3UoqWer6NjsLC5jqecsKtfobykrctmpZ6vo2R%2FcX6SaGdwZ5WisrOzxKeasmWgp7ykuMCmmK2hn6N6orXMrGStp12ovaaxw2asqWWYpMK0tc2gZg%3D%3D