I understand how hard it is to survive here. Between 2017 and 2020 I worked three jobs and 85 (or more hours!) a week to keep my home. It’s completely unsustainable for us to have to work so hard to survive here.
Affordable housing is one of the most urgent issues we must tackle. We need to find county solutions to reduce the cost of housing. I will continue to support projects like the Lima Ola affordable housing project and support the development of additional family units and rentals on existing properties to accommodate growing families and additional rentals.
I believe we must find ways to discourage off shore vacation rental home buying, which is playing a part in pushing local families out of the market. We need to look at out of the box solutions to help offset and reduce rental costs and encourage and incentivize home owners to rent their homes on long term affordable leases to local families.
We also must tackle the needed infrastructure upgrades to accommodate these additional units and developments. We need to work with departments to understand what is holding up approved family units and address those permit blockages and infrastructure needs. If elected I will dive into the research that has been done on things that have worked in other areas and connect with the groups working on this issue to address the gaps.
Recently, the Kauaʻi County Council voted down Resolution 2022-22 which would have placed a charter amendment on the ballot for the voters to decide if we should earmark two percent (2%) of our real property tax revenue in the Countyʻs Annual Budget to provide and develop affordable housing on Kauaʻi. I supported this measure, and like many Kauaʻi local families, am extremely concerned about how we are being priced out of our home and how our friends and family members can no longer afford to live here and are being pushed off island. I support this earmark and bold and thoughtful action to address our major housing crisis.
I support this earmark because there is a huge need for substantial capital in order to effectively address the housing problem. The County needs to come up with substantial unrestricted housing development capital if we are sincere about solving the affordable housing crisis. The present county legislative/budget process is not capable of producing the amount of capital needed, or providing the consistency of funding required.
The 2% annually may seem small when compared to the money needed to meet the need, but it can be leveraged strategically. A charter earmark can support the floatation of a bond for a much larger amount of money that can be a way we leverage the money earmarked. With a boost to the Housing Development Fund we would be able to provide housing for more families in more income brackets and develop better quality projects. We can also give the County Housing Agency the ability to buy land, such as what was done to develop Kalepa Village.
I support us taking big steps to seriously address our housing needs so that local generational families, their children and the next generations can stay and return to Kauaʻi. This is a top priority for me and I see this earmark as a reasonable and serious step in the right direction.
In addition to addressing the affordable housing crisis for middle income working families, I also support housing first solutions and comprehensive plans that address the interconnected social issues our community faces around houselessness. While we address houselessness we also need to provide mental health solutions and real drug rehabilitation and support systems. As we address these things simultaneously we will have more success solving these issues rather than band-aiding them. I support efforts to help establish real housing first solutions that give people a base, an address and some stability. With stability people are able to go to classes, participate in the community, get mail and are much more likely to reestablish themselves into society and get back on their feet.
