The Hawaii County Council is on the cusp of advancing a bill that would let everyday folks play a major role in reducing the island’s housing shortage.
Bill 123, introduced by Councilwomen Heather Kimball and Ashley Kierkiewicz, would make it easier for homeowners to build ohana or accessory dwelling units in the county’s urban areas such as Hilo, Kona and Waimea.
It would do that by removing the requirement that anyone wanting to build an ADU on Hawaii Island must get an “ohana dwelling” permit in addition to a regular building permit.
The bill also proposes setting a maximum size of 1,250 square feet of living space for ADUs, and allowing up to three per lot, so long as the lot has adequate access to water and sewer.
Currently, there is no maximum size for ADUs, and the ADU limit per lot is one.
These changes could unlock big gains for isle homeowners, who would have more freedom to build smaller homes in their backyards or as additions to their existing homes. These cottages could be rented to elderly family members, children starting out on their own, or local families simply looking for places to live.
And it’s clear that Hawaii County needs more homes. A 2019 study by SMS Research indicated that Hawaii County needed to build 13,303 new dwellings between 2020 and 2025 to keep up with demand, yet a recent report from the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawaii found that the county permitted only 5,018 new housing units between 2019 and 2023.
Building 8,000 new homes by next year is probably not going to happen, but adopting Bill 123 — which could go into effect as early as October — would be a good first step that would help in the long run.
Looking ahead to 2045, Hawaii County’s draft General Plan emphasizes the importance of this approach, stating that the county should “amend the zoning and building regulations to allow affordability of various housing types, particularly the missing middle in urban areas.”
Another benefit of Bill 123 would be that by allowing more housing in urban areas, it would reduce the need to build new subdivisions on agricultural land.
One way the bill could be improved, however, would be to relax the county’s parking mandates. County Code requires most new buildings to be built with a certain number of parking spaces. For single-family homes, the requirement is usually two spaces per dwelling.
In 2020, the Ulupono Initiative estimated that parking mandates on Hawaii Island add at least $4,200 per parking space to the cost of a new home. Soaring inflation since 2020 has no doubt made this cost even greater.
If the council truly wants to encourage the construction of more cottages, it should look at relaxing parking mandates for ADUs. One consideration could be how close the proposed ADUs are to public transit.
Honolulu has used this approach, requiring only one parking space per ADU in general and none if the ADUs are within a half-mile of the rail. The Honolulu City Council also is looking to remove parking mandates for ADUs in urban areas if they are within 800 feet of a city bus stop.
Bill 123 will have its first reading today before the Hawaii County Council. It’s encouraging to see council members pursuing commonsense policies that would free homeowners and builders from the reams of red tape that hinder housing construction.
Jonathan Helton is a policy researcher at the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.
