Like a lot of people who are forced to sleep outdoors, Ronnie Lance doesn’t see much problem with taxing wealthy developers to pay for building new homes for those who don’t have one.
Like a lot of people who are forced to sleep outdoors, Ronnie Lance doesn’t see much problem with taxing wealthy developers to pay for building new homes for those who don’t have one.
“That’s what needs to happen,” said Lance, who has been homeless for years, mostly in Oregon and for the past month, in Kailua-Kona.
“Yeah, they need to tax the rich,” Lance said. “All I ever hear is, we gotta help the middle class, the middle class. What about trying to improve the lives of people who have nothing?”
Only, this concept isn’t something that’s merely being batted around over a can of Steel Reserve in the park. If Kona Sen. Josh Green has his way, developments in Hawaii whose construction costs exceed $20 million will be paying 3 to 5 percent of that cost into a new special fund geared to homeless housing initiatives.
The luxury tax, Green said, is the responsible thing to do and would help meet the need for at least $50 million to fund such efforts as Housing First, an initiative which is being employed with some success on Oahu, and one that Green wants to see expanded to the Neighbor Islands.
“The return on investment for property values, and savings on catastrophic health needs for the homeless alone makes it a good strategy,” he said. “And the cost would be passed on to mainland and international investors who have been speculating on Hawaii property, driving up the costs for local residents.”
Senate Bill 2464, which Green has submitted with five co-sponsors, would task the Department of Human Services with collecting the development fee, and would establish a homeless and affordable housing special fund for building, renting and rehabilitating housing for the state’s burgeoning homeless population.
Not so fast, says Riley Smith, president and CEO of Lanihau Properties in Kailua-Kona. For one thing, the $20 million figure is arbitrary, he said.
“All this legislation will do is increase the cost of housing for everyone, or encourage high-end and resort housing to go elsewhere,” he said.
Landowners and developers already pay into affordable housing initiatives, typically through required county “fair share” requirements, Smith said.
“Usually, 10 to 20 percent of the total number of units must meet the affordable housing criteria,” Smith said. “Then, during zoning, the landowner works with the county housing agency and either provides land, housing or a combination. This is how the various affordable housing projects on Hawaii Island were built.”
Other Big Island developers and a contractors association did not respond to requests for comment on the bill.
Brian Silva, a long-time Big Island resident, now homeless, says he was a combat infantryman in Operation Desert Storm.
An initiative like Housing First — where shelter is provided first and drug and alcohol treatment protocols come afterward rather than leading the process — would benefit people in straits similar to his, he said.
“It would be great,” he said. “It would be great for people who really want to get off the street.”