Lawmakers approve $570M for affordable housing

HONOLULU — State lawmakers have approved a bill that would allocate $570 million to create affordable housing units in Hawaii.

The bill — approved on Tuesday — now goes in front of Gov. David Ige for final consideration. If signed, the funds are projected to add more than 20,000 new homes across the state by 2030.

The bill is designed to incentivize private developers to build affordable housing.

It would give $200 million in cash to the Hawaii Housing Finance Development Corporation to start building immediately. It also allocates $360 million for tax credits to reimburse developers whose projects meet certain criteria. That credit runs through the year 2030 when lawmakers expect Hawaii to have at least 22,000 more homes.

State Rep. Tom Brower said the allocation would be the largest appropriation made by the Legislature. He said the bill demonstrates a “relentless commitment to providing innovative solutions to meet the state’s long-term housing demands.”

The bill itself was originally supposed to give $50,000 to a wait list study. The original bill has been “gutted” and “replaced” with hundreds of millions of dollars to stimulate affordable housing development.