An emergency working group established in July by Gov. Josh Green to speed delivery of affordable housing in Hawaii has gotten back to work after initial setbacks that included legal challenges and the resignation of its leader.
The Build Beyond Barriers Working Group has yet to receive and approve an application for residential development, but the 36-member panel during a Nov. 14 meeting issued its first decision, one related to housing production.
Panel members agreed to let two Hawaii County agencies sidestep state laws that govern employee hiring so that the agencies can more quickly fill chronically vacant positions.
The Planning Department and the Department of Public Works for Hawaii County sought exemptions to state civil service and collective bargaining statutes to more easily fill 19 vacant full-time positions representing 25% of full staffing.
Representatives of the two agencies said at the meeting that they will be able to more quickly process permits, including permits for affordable housing, with more staff.
“It’s been very challenging to maintain the level of services and operations that we would like to,” said Zendo Kern, Hawaii County Planning Department director.
The Planning Department had nine vacancies, and Public Works had 10.
Both agencies already prioritize processing of permits for affordable housing, though Kern and Malia Kekai, public works deputy director, said increased staffing would accelerate all permitting work.
The application from the two agencies estimated that successful expedited hiring of qualified workers would result in a 25% increase in affordable-housing units through permit approvals.
Hiring has been a struggle for both agencies during the past three years, in part because recruitment notices generate little response and because some good candidates choose other jobs because it can take months before a county job offer is extended.
“It’s a very long and arduous process,” Kern said at the meeting.
At a prior meeting of the panel, some concerns were raised over a similar request by the Hawaii Public Housing Authority.
HPHA, which manages low-income housing owned by the state, sought exemptions to hiring and procurement rules in an effort to fill more than 80 vacant positions to help accelerate repairs on more than 300 vacant units and process housing applications and assistance payments.
During an Aug. 29 meeting, Brenna Hashimoto, director of the state Department of Human Resources Development, questioned the need to sidestep the civil service statute because it already allows for exemptions.
Debra Kagawa-Yogi, a Hawaii Government Employees Association union representative, echoed Hashimoto’s point but also said an inability to compete with the private sector on pay is a big challenge in filling local government jobs, and that obtaining an exemption from collective bargaining statutes could put other agencies seeking workers at a disadvantage to HPHA.