Hawaii Low Income Housing

Low Income Housing Information

Low income housing can be a godsend, but if you don't know how to apply, or who to get your information to, how can you ever expect to be approved?

Since laws and procedure vary from state to state, you'll need to learn a few specifics before applying. We can help!

How to Search for Low Income Housing in Hawaii

Of all the constituent states of the United States, low income people have the hardest time in Hawaii. Hawaii is well known for consistently having the highest cost of living in all of the states, due in large part to the expense of having to import almost everything to the archipelago. At the same time, most wages and salaries are more closely aligned to continental amounts, meaning that almost all working people in Hawaii make considerably less than they require in order to live there. The real saving grace is the tourist industry which brings in a lot of external money and federal government spending, especially from the military, which as a large presence in Hawaii.

People looking for low income housing also have additional difficulties based on the basic nature of the islands. As islands, they have a limited amount of space available in the first place, which automatically places livable real estate at a premium. Added to this is the general desirability of Hawaii living, which is well known as a tropical paradise. The desirability of living in Hawaii has resulted in a lot of wealthy people from the mainland and elsewhere coming to Hawaii and driving up the cost of real estate by purchasing enormous estates. The land that is not quickly bought up by wealthy outsiders for their personal use is frequently purchased by hotels and other resort corporations, which also drives up the prices of all the desirable locations.

Despite all of this, Hawaii is like all other states in that it has a large population of low income people, the definition of which is considerably higher in Hawaii due to the cost of living. The lack of affordable housing constituted a major crisis even during the real estate bubble, with photographs of Hawaii's "tent cities" of homeless people camping on the beaches even back in 2006. Needless to say, with the collapse of the real estate market and the recession, this situation has become much worse in recent years with no end in sight.

With so little low income housing available, it can be very difficult to find in Hawaii and even once found the waiting lists are likely to be lengthy. All of the government run programs are administered by the Hawaii Public Housing Authority (HPHA, www.hcdch.hawaii.gov) and this is probably the first place that people seeking low income housing in Hawaii should visit. In the entire state, there are only twenty-two affordable housing projects based on government spending where qualifying people can find affordable housing for rent. Specifically there are fourteen developments on the main island of Hawaii, seven developments on the island of Kauai, and one development on the island of Lanai. The approximate waiting times for openings is given as being between six months and two years, depending on the project.

Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation (HHFDC, hawaii.gov/dbedt/hhfdc) is working on constructing new affordable housing units in the state as well as acquiring new properties to be held in trust as permanent affordable rental properties. However, with the ongoing recession, its efforts have been severely curtailed in recent years. In the meantime, the amount of available affordable housing units remains very small and in great demand, leading many low income people to adopt homeless lifestyles on the beaches.