home page link
Hawaii 2050 Sustainability Plan
Page 2 of 10 pages  <  1 2 3 4 >  Last »
Benchmark 1
Increase affordable housing opportunities for households up to 140% of median income. (Goal 4, Strategic Action 1)

Why this matters:
  • We define affordable housing as for purchase or rental housing that households earning up to 140% of the area median income can afford. The Hawai‘i Housing Finance Development Corporation (“HHFDC”) states that another indicator of housing affordability is the shelter-to-income ratio of 30% or below. A ratio exceeding 30% generally indicates cost burden or housing that is not affordable. Without affordable housing, Hawai‘i’s low- and middle-income cannot afford a place to live, and many of our most promising young people will move to the mainland.

Where we are now:
  • According to the Housing Policy Study (2006), there were 435,818 housing units in 2006. Of that, 260,986 are owner-occupied. The remaining 174,832 units are rental units, of which 48.2% of renters are cost burdened. 51.8% or 90,563 of rental units are affordable.

  • The Housing Policy Study also indicated that about 54.2% of households statewide pay less than 30% of income for housing. Housing for this group is affordable. 34% of households are cost burdened (11.3% of households pay 30-40% of income for housing and 22.7% have housing payments exceeding 40% of income).

2020 Suggested Benchmarks:
  • Hawai‘i’s shelter-to-income ratio is nearing the national ratio of 22% of income spent for homeowner housing, and 30% for rental housing (Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2005).

  • The HHFDC estimates that in the next five years (2007-2011) there is an estimated need for approximately 23,000 affordable and workforce housing units. HHFDC seeks to meet that demand.



print this page | download this section (PDF)download full plan (PDF)
Page 2 of 10 pages  <  1 2 3 4 >  Last »