Essay On Hawaii's Affordable Housing Crisis

CJ Bonilla

ARCH 496

Professor McGuire

18 April 2023

Hawaii’s Affordable Housing Crisis

The price of living in paradise will cost a pretty penny. Hawaii’s outrageously expensive housing market heavily impacts working-class families as they face the highest housing costs in the nation. Not only does Hawaii’s housing market exceed most price ranges that families would enjoy, but many of the families looking for homes simply do not earn enough to afford market rents. Despite the recent economic downturn, rents have continued to increase as well as demand for housing. Ensuring an adequate supply of housing within our residences means is the only way to prevent and end the homelessness issue throughout our islands. Housing is the single biggest

These rent-overburdened families are more likely to face challenges paying for nutritious and sufficient food and make difficult tradeoffs, particularly in health care and transportation expenditures. Both children and adults who lack affordable housing have poorer health indicators. Families may be forced to move into sub-standard or crowded housing. In 2011, 13 percent of Hawaii’s households were doubling up with friends or family due to economic necessity, and a full 30 percent were either doubled up or crowded. The cost of utilities levies a heavy burden on households. Hawaii’s cost of electricity for the residential sector is the highest in the nation at 37 cents per kilowatt hour, which is more than three times the national average of 12 cents and twice as much as the cost of electricity in Alaska, the second most expensive state. Because many people sacrifice proximity to work to find affordable housing, including the costs of commuting provides a more comprehensive metric of affordability. When housing combined with transportation costs exceeds 45 percent of a household’s income, they are considered cost-burdened. When Honolulu’s transportation costs are figured in, the average expenditure for housing and transportation costs is 61 percent of income. For moderate-income households, three out of four moderate-income households in Honolulu are cost-burdened when considering both housing and transportation. On the other islands, virtually all moderate-income households are cost-burdened. These cost burdens are no surprise: Hawaii’s transportation costs are the highest in the country, at 30 percent above the national average. Market rents are far from affordable for the average wage earner. For extremely low-income households, minimum wage earners, and Supplemental Security Income recipients, affordable housing is even further out of reach. In the meantime, Fair