Affordability is personal to me. I am a husband, a father of three and someone rebuilding after the Lahaina fire. I also grew up in an immigrant family where I watched my parents work multiple jobs so their kids could have a better life. Unfortunately a common story in Hawaiʻi, but today too many families can do everything right and still feel like they are falling behind. In West Maui, the fire made the pressure worse, but it did not create the pressure. Housing, insurance, groceries, water, transportation and the cost of raising kids were already hard. I hear it from business owners, employees, parents and kūpuna. People are not asking for luxury. They are asking whether they can stay. That is why affordability cannot be treated like one issue. It touches housing, wages, childcare, food, taxes, infrastructure and whether local families can see a future here.
We restore optimism by showing people that government can still solve real problems. Families do not need more speeches about affordability. They need to see homes being built, permits moving, businesses reopening, roads improving and jobs that pay enough to stay. In Lahaina, people are watching closely. If recovery feels stuck, it sends the message that Hawaiʻi cannot take care of its own people. If we can rebuild Lahaina in a way that is safer, stronger and still rooted in local families, it can restore hope far beyond West Maui. For me, optimism comes from practical progress. During COVID and after the fires, I saw that when government, business and community actually work together, solutions can happen. We need more of that approach statewide. Young people need to see a future that includes a decent job, a home they can afford and a reason to believe they do not have to leave Hawaiʻi to build a life.
We have to stop pretending affordability is only about prices. Wages and opportunity matter just as much. If a person works full time in Hawaiʻi and still cannot afford rent, groceries, childcare or gas, then the economy is not working for local families. I would focus on growing living wage jobs in sectors that make sense for Hawaiʻi, including trades, health care, agriculture, clean energy, technology, education and small business. In West Maui, recovery should not only rebuild structures. It should create real career paths for local workers. We also need to make it easier for local businesses to survive and grow. I have seen how permitting delays, insurance costs, shipping costs and unclear government processes can slow people down. A business owner trying to reopen in Lahaina should not have to chase five different answers from five different places. The Legislature should invest in workforce housing, infrastructure, career training and small business support. We need an economy where local work leads to local stability.
The State needs to connect education more directly to real jobs. Too often we talk about workforce development in broad terms, but students and families need to see the actual path. What training leads to what job? What does it pay? Can that job support a life in Hawaiʻi? For West Maui, I support expanding the UH satellite presence with programs tied to trades, agriculture, health care, technology, hospitality management, entrepreneurship and other local needs. Our young people should be able to train close to home and see careers that allow them to stay. We also need to respect both college and non college pathways. A young person should be able to become an electrician, nurse, teacher, equipment operator, farmer, small business owner or technology worker and still afford to live here. Rebuilding Lahaina will require skilled workers. That work should become a training ground for local residents, not just a project that imports labor and leaves when construction is done.
Housing costs will not come down unless we deal with the real bottlenecks. In West Maui, I hear over and over that a project may be close, but then it is waiting on a water meter, wastewater clearance, infrastructure capacity or another agency signoff. That is where government has to get more practical.
We need to build more homes people can actually afford, but housing cannot move without water, wastewater, roads, drainage and power. I would push for infrastructure funding that is directly tied to housing production, faster review for projects that serve local residents and better coordination between state and county agencies. I also support deed restrictions, long term affordability requirements, down payment support, public private partnerships and better use of public lands. We need to follow the full cost of housing from planning to occupancy, including insurance, construction costs, maintenance fees and special assessments. If local families still cannot afford the final product, we have not solved the problem.
If public land, public money or public infrastructure helps make a housing project possible, then the public should receive a clear benefit. That means a meaningful portion of those homes should be dedicated to local working families and kept affordable over time. I support tools like resident preferences where legally allowed, deed restrictions, owner occupancy requirements, long term affordability covenants and stronger protections against speculation. We have to make sure housing built in Hawaiʻi actually serves people who live and work here. This is especially important in Lahaina. Rebuilding cannot become a process where outside money comes in and local families are pushed farther away. We need housing for teachers, nurses, firefighters, county workers, hotel workers, tradespeople, small business employees and families who are part of the fabric of our community.
The goal is not to shut people out. The goal is to make sure local people are not always last in line.
To build housing faster, we need to identify what is actually stopping projects and fix those problems one by one. Sometimes it is zoning. Often it is infrastructure, financing, permitting, water, wastewater, roads or agency coordination.
I would push for a clearer housing project pipeline so the public can see what is stuck, why it is stuck and who is responsible for moving it. We need faster review for housing that serves local residents, more infrastructure funding, better use of public lands and stronger coordination with counties. I also support infill housing, ADUs, adaptive reuse and smaller housing types where they fit the community. Not every solution has to be a massive project. For Lahaina and West Maui, building quickly also has to mean building safely. We need homes, but we also need emergency access, water systems, roads, utilities and drainage that make those homes resilient. Speed matters, but so does getting the basics right.
Groceries are where families feel the cost of living every week. You see it at the checkout line. A few bags of food can feel like a major bill. For many families, it is not one cost that breaks the budget. It is groceries, gas, rent, childcare, insurance and utilities all hitting at once. We need to strengthen local food production so Hawaiʻi is less dependent on expensive imports. That means supporting farmers and ranchers with water, land access, processing facilities, cold storage, transportation and distribution. Local food has to be able to reach local shelves at prices families can afford. We also need to look at the cost drivers that make everything more expensive, including shipping, energy and regulation. Neighbor island families often feel those costs even more. Short term, I support targeted tax relief that helps working families with basic needs. Long term, we need a stronger local food system so Hawaiʻi is not always at the end of a very expensive supply chain.
Childcare is one of the biggest affordability issues for working families. As a father, I know how much childcare and education shape family decisions. For many parents, the question is not whether they want to work. It is whether working even makes financial sense after childcare costs. The State should expand childcare subsidies for working families, increase preschool access, help providers with facilities and staffing costs and make it easier to open or expand safe childcare options. We also need to support early educators, because the system cannot grow if workers cannot afford to stay in the field. Education is also part of the affordability conversation. Strong public schools reduce pressure on families and give children a better foundation. We should improve facilities, support teachers and connect students earlier to real career pathways. For West Maui, that includes expanding local access to UH programs, trades, agriculture and workforce training so families do not have to leave the community to find opportunity.
If I could change one part of the tax system, I would focus on reducing the burden on working families for basic needs. Hawaiʻi’s general excise tax affects many everyday purchases and services, and that impact is felt most by families who are already stretched. I support targeted tax relief for necessities like food, medical care, childcare and housing related costs. Relief should be designed so it actually reaches local working families, not just looks good on paper. At the same time, I believe in fiscal discipline. Before asking families to pay more, government should look closely at spending, special funds, long term vacancies and programs that are not delivering results. Families in Hawaiʻi have to make hard budget decisions every day. Government should be held to the same standard. Affordability cannot be solved by taxes alone, but our tax system should not make it harder for working families to stay.
Hawaiʻi is difficult for business because the costs are high and the process is often too slow or confusing. Rent, insurance, shipping, utilities, labor costs, taxes and permitting all add up. For a small business, one delay can mean payroll, rent or reopening gets harder. I have seen this up close. During COVID, I worked on practical reopening solutions for restaurants. After the Lahaina fire, I helped with the fire recovery transfer license program for displaced businesses. Those experiences showed me that many business problems are not ideological. They are practical. People need clear rules, timely answers and agencies that work together. I would improve conditions by streamlining permitting, reducing unnecessary delays, improving agency coordination, reviewing rules that add cost without clear benefit and expanding access to capital for local businesses. Local businesses are not just numbers on a spreadsheet. They are jobs, families, gathering places and the character of our towns.
Trust is rebuilt through transparency, stronger ethics rules, real consequences and less behind the scenes decision making. Especially with recovery and infrastructure money, the public should be able to see where funds are going and what is actually getting done. I support clearer reporting on state spending, stronger fiscal analysis for bills, better tracking of capital improvement projects and more accountability when agencies miss deadlines or fail to deliver. The public should not have to guess where a project stands or why money has not turned into results. I also support reforms that make the legislative process easier to follow. That means fewer last minute surprises, stronger committee review and more meaningful public input. People are more likely to trust government when they can see the process, understand the decisions and measure the outcomes. In West Maui, trust will come from results people can actually see.
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