In Sunday's Star Bulletin, City and County of Honolulu Councilmembers Donovan Dela Cruz and Ann Kobayashi outline their wish-list of affordable housing policies for the City.
Under their second bullet point is a call to "[m]andate a higher percentage of affordable units for new residential developments seeking a zone change." The proposed mandate sounds like the type of affordable housing exactions imposed in Hawaii County and Maui County. The City's present housing policy requires a quantum of affordable housing, usually 20 percent, during the land use planning stages; for example, development plan amendments.
The City's current method provides flexibility for the City and landowners during the development process, where such things as the impact of a particular project on housing can be taken into consideration. However, if the new policy is like Hawaii or Maui's it will be more stringent. Those policies require mandatory set-asides of built affordable housing or land of up to 50 percent of a project at the zoning or subdivision stages.
While the City is in the process of proposing an ordinance, here are a few things landowners should look out for:
- A nexus study prepared by the City. That study should show the impact of development on housing demand and supply in the City. Such a study is required under the U.S. Constitution before a government can take property by exaction.
- The types of benefits under the proposed ordinance conveyed to landowners who must give private property to the government.
- The ongoing federal case challenging Maui's Affodable Housing Policy.
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