Gov. Josh Green to amend Hawaii emergency housing panel powers

Gov. Josh Green plans to issue a second emergency housing proclamation today that he hopes will mollify concerns and satisfy lawsuit complaints in order to fast-track construction of 50,000 new homes to give island residents a major reason to stay home.

Green’s original 60-day emergency proclamation, issued July 17, created a new state emergency housing development approval panel intended to get homes built faster across the state.

But exemptions from state laws for the so-called Build Beyond Barriers panel unleashed intense criticism and a lawsuit challenging its creation and existence, including waiving it from the state’s Sunshine Law, environmental reviews, Land Use Commission and fears that it would provide a windfall for private developers to build market-rate homes.

As he had pledged in creating the Build Beyond Barriers panel, Green told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Thursday that he will continually adjust future emergency proclamations extending the panel’s existence in response to concerns for as long as a year.

The new emergency proclamation will specify that the panel’s work will be focused on developing “affordable” housing and will be subject to the Sunshine Law and environmental, historic preservation and environmental reviews, among other changes.

To address other widespread criticisms, Green said he will specifically exempt housing construction in Lahaina from the panel’s purview following the devastating Aug. 8 wildfire that killed 115 people and has led to online conspiracies that the fire was set intentionally by the unspecified “government ” to create a land grab by private developers to transform the historic seaside community into something unwanted by Lahaina residents.

“To be very clear, this has nothing to do with building in Lahaina,” Green told the Star-Advertiser. “We will let the people of Lahaina decide what they want.”

Green said his new proclamation aims to quicken the pace of affordable housing construction while maintaining his original pledge to “keep our word to be inclusive and protect the environment while we build ” and not build on conservation land.

“There can be trust issues with government,” Green said. “Our goal was never to breach that trust. But we didn’t want distrust to distract us any longer. … The spirit of what we started with remains the same : to build affordable housing.”

Or as Hakim Ouansafi, executive director of the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, who serves on the panel, put it, “Let’s build some housing.”

Addressing criticisms, Ouansafi said authorities share the same stake in building affordable housing to keep their own children home—or give them a reason to move back.

“Our children go to the same schools, ” he said.

Green’s office this morning plans to release his latest housing emergency proclamation, intended to last another 60 days. It was still being reviewed by state Attorney General Anne E. Lopez late Thursday.

The changes are intended to make the panel adhere to normal Sunshine Law requirements, including public notice of upcoming meetings. (The Sept. 26 meeting has been postponed at least a month to let the public review the details of today’s emergency proclamation.)

Meetings will be broadcast, similar to other post-pandemic hearings, and public testimony will be accepted as long as speakers adhere to items on the agenda and comply with time limits.

Earthjustice, a nonprofit public-interest law organization, sued the state and Green’s outgoing Chief Housing Officer Nani Medeiros, who led the panel but announced her resignation amid harsh criticism and threats against her and her family.

There was no consultation between the state and Earthjustice leading up to Green’s second emergency proclamation.

Earthjustice represents the Sierra Club, affordable-housing and Native Hawaiian advocates, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii and some residents in West Maui.

Senior attorney David Henkin declined to comment on Green’s characterizations of what will be included in today’s emergency proclamation but plans to “carefully review it ” and said, “The devil’s in the details with respect to our clients’ specific concerns—issues of great concerns.”

“We will carefully review whatever the governor might do next, ” Henkin said.

The lawsuit’s plaintiffs wonder how Green can declare an emergency to address a housing shortage that has existed for over a century.

Henkin maintained his clients’ position that the Legislature remains the proper body to overhaul the way that housing continues to be developed—and not the executive branch.

The governor, Henkin said, should more appropriately use his “bully pulpit ” to convince the public and legislators to make changes to speed up construction of affordable housing.

Green’s original emergency proclamation gave Medeiros—his outgoing chief housing officer—extraordinary powers to approve projects.

Green has yet to name her replacement.

Green’s advisers told the Star-Advertiser that the new emergency proclamation intends to clarify that the panel will be more collaborative and led by “a leadership team” of current members.

The panel primarily consists of county and state agencies and also includes the Sierra Club, one of the plaintiffs to the Earthjustice lawsuit.

On Sept. 7, Medeiros resigned and gave a month’s notice.

Green on Thursday continued to condemn how she was treated, which he said helped lead to his decision to amend his second emergency proclamation.

“The amount of animosity culminating with the attacks on Nani made me decide that I don’t want that kind of conflict,” Green said. “We were spending too much time and energy wrestling with doubters. Now we want to honor Nani’s initial work by building more affordable housing.”