In just a few weeks Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell is expected to deliver his sixth State of the City address.

In last year’s speech the mayor promised “laser-like” focus on the crisis of affordable housing, calling for cooperation from other governments, the private sector, unions and nonprofits to help the city “turn the corner.”

“If we don’t change the course we have been on for a long period of time, this island becomes a de facto gated community,” the mayor warned.

Chad Blair/Civil Beat

Caldwell proposed a number of ideas to spur the creation of more affordable housing, ones that build on the mayor’s affordable housing strategy, first proposed in 2014.

A year later, it’s easy to doubt whether there has been significant progress. Earlier this month, the City Council Zoning and Planning Committee tabled Bill 58, which would mandate that all large new housing developments include a certain percentage of lower-priced units.

The mayor, echoing the views of several housing experts, had described the bill to council members as “probably the most significant legislation you will be moving in years and years and years.”

But the committee chair, Councilwoman Kymberly Pine, instead wants to continue analyzing the proposed mandate. She said Bill 58 could come up again last week, but it didn’t and now may have to wait until February.

Mandating affordable housing units as part of new developments is known as inclusionary zoning, and it has a mixed track record. It depends heavily on how legislation is crafted for a particular housing market. But on the upside, inclusionary zoning can produce more integrated communities, and not the gated or segregated communities Caldwell warned about.

Local developers, however, make it more difficult for legislation like Bill 58 to pass because they want to limit the amount of time cheaper units are on the market to just 10 years, as current law requires, rather than the 30 years Caldwell seeks.

Now, it appears the mayor may accept a 20-year limit, while Pine’s version of Bill 58 would permit developers to sell below-market units to richer folks if they haven’t sold after just a few months.

She’s even said developers could pay a fee instead of providing affordable units.

Is Hawaii Really So Different?

Pine’s rationale is that things are, well, different in Hawaii. Mainland approaches apparently won’t work here.

We don’t buy it. The city also paid a lot of money for mainland consultants to make sure that the proposal would be financially feasible for developers, and their recommendations should receive serious consideration and, where appropriate, possible adoption.

Honolulu faces the same soaring housing costs as West Coast cities, such as San Francisco and Seattle. Why shouldn’t we look to what their leaders are trying?

Pine, a probable mayoral candidate in 2020 whose campaign coffers (like so many Hawaii politicians) are stuffed with donations from developers, Realtors, architects, construction companies and fat cat lobbyists, should bring Bill 58 back to her committee and strike a reasonable compromise.

But let’s stick to at least 30 years, not less. Many states make the affordability requirement 99 years or even permanent.

To Pine’s credit, the latest draft calls for a 30-year affordability restriction for all rental units, as well as a 30-year affordability period with for-sale units that are purchased in the first 120 days.

And let’s consider keeping language about developers being able to pay in-lieu fees instead of providing the affordable units themselves. The mayor and developers agree on this, and Pine has reinstated it into Bill 58’s latest draft.

The councilwoman is in a tough spot. She wants to heed the concerns of developers but also those of affordable housing advocates.

But it’s an issue that all of our leaders are wrestling with, as well as its policy twin, homelessness. Just look at the opening day speeches at the Hawaii Legislature and the governor’s State of the State.

It would be great to see Mayor Caldwell be able to point to real progress in his next State of the City speech. Movement on Bill 58 could serve exactly that purpose.