Lingle signs affordable-housing bills, promises more
Associated Press
Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday said three new laws aimed at helping the homeless and low-income residents were a step in the right direction toward bringing more affordable housing to Hawai'i, but stressed that more needs to be done.
The governor promised to "continue to focus on what I believe is the most serious issue facing our state."
"This is a step we needed to take but there's so much more that we need to do," she said during a bill signing outside a rental complex for seniors in Kaka'ako.
The measures include a bill that implements several strategies to bring affordable housing to a state with some of the highest median home prices in the nation. Last month the median resale price of a house was $735,000 on Maui and $593,000 on O'ahu.
The strategies include:
The bill also splits the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawai'i into two agencies effective July 1, 2006 — one to administer public housing and the other to finance and develop affordable housing.
House Housing Committee Chairman Michael Kahikina said the bill was "the most important piece of legislation passed this year" to help the homeless and low-income families.
But Lingle said more needs to be done. She said the laws should have included moderate-income families who are also struggling to find affordable housing.
"I don't feel the solutions in these bills recognize the seriousness of the crisis that we face and I don't think they address the broad range of housing that we're lacking in the state," she said.
