Committee advances CD1 revisions to City’s affordable rental housing program, defers final vote pending UHERO and DPP data

The Honolulu City Council Committee on Housing, Homelessness and Parks on March 3 advanced an amended draft of Bill 18, which seeks changes to Chapter 32 (the Bill 7 affordable rental housing program), and deferred final action pending analysis from UHERO and data from the Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP).

The chair recommended amending Bill 18 to the posted CD1 and reported the CD1 out for further consideration after discussion. The CD1 would set a maximum lot size for Bill 7 projects at 40,000 square feet (instead of the unlimited footprint that had been proposed), allow building height up to 60 feet or the underlying zoning height, and revises how elevator and parking requirements are handled.

Gavin Thornton, director of housing policy for the Department of Housing and Land Management (DHLM), told the committee DHLM contracted UHERO to analyze Chapter 32 and comparable programs; UHERO27s analysis is due March 20 and DHLM expects to provide recommendations in April. "We're not gonna be ready to do that until April," Thornton said, adding the study will compare Chapter 32 to other jurisdictions and evaluate mid-rise workforce housing tools.

Public commenters, housing advocates, developers and policy groups offered mixed views. Brian Mick of the Disability Communication Access Board urged the committee to adopt the CD1 and lower the elevator trigger, arguing elevators are an accessibility trigger under federal fair housing principles: "It's in everyone's best interest for people who become disabled to be able to continue living in their home," Mick said. Donald Sakamoto, an ADA advocate, also urged stronger accessibility measures.

Other witnesses warned proposed mandates could raise costs and reduce feasibility. Ted Kofales of the Grassroot Institute and Arjuna Haim (Appleseed) opposed minimum parking requirements in the CD1, noting studies that tie parking to large per-unit construction cost increases. Kofales estimated elevator and parking requirements could add several hundred thousand dollars to project costs. Damien Waikoloa of Hawaii YIMBY said elevator installation and maintenance costs can make low-rise projects financially unworkable without broader reforms to lower those costs.

Councilmember dos Santos Tam relayed preliminary analysis from his office showing 789 AMX/BMX parcels larger than 20,000 sq ft in raw data; after excluding parks, hospitals and parcels already with more than eight units, that fell to 201 parcels and, when hand-reviewed, to roughly five that are meaningfully developable—an argument that large-parcel limits may have limited practical effect. DPP deputy director Brian Gallagher said DPP is working to provide its own parcel analysis.

Committee members debated guardrails to prevent a single large project from consuming available incentives, whether to keep parking as a suggestion rather than a requirement, implications for special districts and fire code, and how changes could affect projects in both urban core and neighborhood contexts. Several members supported waiting for the UHERO analysis and additional DPP data before finalizing the bill.

The chair said existing Bill 7 activity shows momentum: six completed projects totaling 189 units, 16 under construction, and 41 under review, and expressed urgency to produce more units before the program27s sunset in 2030. After discussion, the committee amended Bill 18 to the posted CD1 and deferred further action to gather the requested data and hold stakeholder engagement.