Nani Brown

Office: Senate District 17

Party: Democrat

www.nanibrownforhawaii.com

Hawaiʻi’s affordability challenges affect nearly every aspect of daily life, from housing and education to healthcare, transportation, and childcare.
What are your personal experiences with the high cost of living in Hawaiʻi?

I am a single mother of 2 kids, 5 dogs so a lot of mouths to feed and its gets expensive fast especially food. I operate my own company for 17 years, gas for my truck has never been more expensive than now- I can spend $800/m just on gas.

Many local residents leave or are considering leaving Hawaiʻi because they can no longer afford to stay, or because they seek greater economic opportunity, and according to the 2020 Census, approximately 55% of Native Hawaiians now live outside of Hawaiʻi.
With negative net migration continuing to drain Hawaiʻi of its local population, how can we restore optimism and convince local working families and young professionals that they have a viable economic future in the islands?

Encourage more small farms, even on an individual level. Raise minimum wage to a living wage. Free community college/trades school and low cost university. Universal childcare and pre-k. Expand Medicaid.

Progressive tax fairness on foreign and/or extractive businesses. Ban corperate ownership of single family homes amd rental homes. Lease in perpetuity for lineal descendents on Hawaiian Homelands.

Many employers report difficulty finding qualified workers, while many residents struggle to access career pathways that provide long-term financial stability. It is estimated that in the next decade, 170,000 keiki will enter the workforce, but only 100,000 living wage jobs will be available for them.
What are ways the State can improve workforce development efforts and ensure that enough living wage jobs will be available for youth entering the workforce?

Expand and encourage Trades and Trades Schools starting in High School. Increase Civics and basic financial education in High School.

Housing experts recommend that a household spend no more than one-third of its income on housing costs. In its 2025 Employee Affordability Survey, Holomua Collective found that most local working families identify housing as the main driver of Hawaiʻi’s high cost of living. Most local families also said they are spending more than half of household income on housing costs.
What practical and actionable solutions do you have to lower housing costs?

Open up housing for locals by requiring Military personnel stay on post, increase taxes on AirBNBs not owned locally to incentivise long term rentals. Find a way to encourage either public or private landlords to provide more pet-friendly rentals options.

Hawai’i’s housing market is impacted and constrained by out-of-state and speculative buyers. A variety of solutions have been proposed to dedicate housing for local working families.
How do you propose we dedicate housing for local working families over out-of-state or speculative buyers?

Increase the taxes and fees to the point where it just isnt profitable enough to "flip" or invest here.

Hawai‘i needs tens of thousands of new homes, and every year we fall further behind, more local families are forced to leave.
What will you do to ensure the State quickly builds more housing for local working families before they are priced out of Hawai‘i?

State should build public housing through in house trades so that it is quality and actually affordable. Too often we subsidize big developers that over charge us and never live up to there "affordable homes" promises. The additional taxes gathered from out of state investors or developers goes directly subsidize the truly affordable housing.

Nearly one in three Hawaiʻi households experience food insecurity. More than one in five households report skipping meals or going entire days without eating because they cannot afford enough food. With grocery prices 30–40% higher than the continent, many families are struggling to meet their basic needs.
How do you propose we reduce everyday living expenses like groceries?

We can take of taxes for groceries and medicine. Set up fee food banks made up of everyone's extra fruits of veggies or watever they can offer.

Hawaiʻi families face some of the highest early childcare and education costs in the country, with center-based infant care averaging more than $24,000 annually. These costs often prevent parents from returning to work and pose a significant barrier to economic opportunity for working families.
How can the State make childcare and education costs more affordable?

Taxes gathered through the Green Fee, taxing the 1%:etc could directly fund Universal Childcare and Pre-k.

If you could change one aspect of Hawaiʻi's tax system to improve affordability for local working families, what would it be and why?

I would try no Income Tax on secondary jobs.

Hawaiʻi ranks 49th overall nationally in America’s Top States for Business 2025. Local sentiment underscores this ranking, with Holomua Collective’s 2025 Employee Affordability Survey finding that only 19% of respondents believe Hawai‘i is a good place to do business.
Why do you believe Hawai‘i is seen as such a difficult place to do business, and how would you improve conditions for local businesses?

I think we have to plan carefully so that LONG TERM RESIDENTS(local families) are the target to make their businesses easier and more resilient because we want OUR homegrown businesses to stay but we don't want people to move here to start a business.

In a 2025 survey by Holomua Collective, only 20% of local working residents said that they had confidence in state and local government to do right by the people of Hawaiʻi.
What reforms would you support to improve transparency, accountability, trust, efficiency, and public confidence in state and local government?

We have to normalize calling out corruption regardless or party. We need to be able to penalize not only criminal corruption in the state but also the complacency. Make voting records more easily accessible to the public so that the people know what their representatives are standing for at the Capitol.

Related Candidates

Donovan Dela Cruz
No Response Received,Senate District 17

Democrat

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Nani Brown

Hawaiʻi’s affordability challenges affect nearly every aspect of daily life, from housing and education to healthcare, transportation, and childcare.
What are your personal experiences with the high cost of living in Hawaiʻi?

Hawai’i’s housing market is impacted and constrained by out-of-state and speculative buyers. A variety of solutions have been proposed to dedicate housing for local working families.
How do you propose we dedicate housing for local working families over out-of-state or speculative buyers?

Hawai‘i needs tens of thousands of new homes, and every year we fall further behind, more local families are forced to leave.
What will you do to ensure the State quickly builds more housing for local working families before they are priced out of Hawai‘i?

If you could change one aspect of Hawaiʻi's tax system to improve affordability for local working families, what would it be and why?

Related Candidates

Donovan Dela Cruz

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