The Honolulu City Council is pushing back against Senate Bill 3202, a measure going through the state Legislature to increase Hawaiʻi's affordable housing supply.
On Monday the council formally approved a resolution opposing SB3202 and its now-dead House companion bill, which would allow up to two additional dwelling units on residential properties in urban areas.
Opponents say it would encourage monster homes and high-density neighborhoods that don’t have the infrastructure to support them.
The council is also worried the measure would encourage developers to buy and flip houses for higher prices, rather than construct affordable housing.
“I am deeply concerned that as drafted the state bills will not achieve its intended objective to help local families," Councilmember Esther Kiaʻāina, who co-introduced the resolution, said on Monday.
"To the contrary, they discount the city’s and community’s land use and planning processes while having no affordable occupant-owner provisions to ensure local families are able to buy or live in these new housing units,” she continued.
Kiaʻāina and other councilmembers are also concerned that the bill would give the state more control over how land use is used to create affordable housing on Oʻahu.
It noted in the resolution that the county councils were given the authority to “guide the overall future development of the county” by the state decades ago.
They say state lawmakers, so far, haven’t included them in the conversation of taking over housing development and land use responsibility on the island.
“This is an incredibly nuanced discussion that we need to be a part of, and the state, in the process of this, I don't think that they have included, our voices and the constituents who we represent,” said Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam.
Under SB3202, homeowners on residentially zoned lots in urban districts can take advantage of the bill by dividing their properties into smaller lots that are at least 2,000 square feet.
Each of those lots can then contain three separate dwelling units.
Supporters say the bill would allow for the development of more “middle housing” such as duplexes, that would be affordable by design. Such housing options are rare in Hawaiʻi because of the restrictive zoning rules in the counties, they say.
SB3202 is scheduled for a hearing next Monday.
