Developers Weigh-in On Solving Affordable Housing Crisis

Can Hawai’i solve its Affordable Housing crisis? Developers say, “Yes.” HPR’s Wayne Yoshioka reports.

There are more than 50 babies born each day in Hawai’i and many of them will need a place to live in when they grow up. Developer Christine Camp says housing prices can be stabilized if real estate speculation is kept in check.

“Glut the market with rental housing. Rental housing will make it so there’s less speculation in the “for sale” housing because people are not going to buy a unit for sake that in 2 years that’s going to double in price and so I’m just gonna buy it and rent it. Because they know they know they’re not gonna be able to rent it. If there’s 5-thousand rental housing coming up in the same year, no one’s gonna speculate to buy a unit. They’re gonna buy a unit because they’re gonna live there.”

But Camp says developers aren’t building rental housing because they can’t afford it and the use of government land with less than a 65-year underlying ground lease will not provide the collateral needed to secure a loan. She says one way government can help is to provide a pathway to homeownership to build net worth. Developer Peter Savio agrees.

Read more: http://hawaiipublicradio.org/post/developers-weigh-solving-affordable-housing-crisis