The Hawaii County Council met on April 22, 2026, to consider multiple resolutions and bills, including housing initiatives, grant awards, budget amendments, and community support measures. Key discussions centered on Resolution 475-26, a housing lease program for underserved populations, and Resolution 497-26 regarding the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) administrative costs. The council also addressed Bill 138, which regulates commercial activity at Kuawaihi Beach Park, and several other administrative items.
Is there any additional testimony for resolution 475-26 draft 2? Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk. Just want to note that we do have one testifier, Kalani Spain via Zoom. If Kalani would like to provide testimony at this time for resolution 475, please unmute, introduce yourself, and you'll have three minutes. Aloha chair and members of the council. My name is Dr. Kalani Spain, and I'm here on behalf of Hope Services Hawaii in strong support of resolution 475-26. I'm very encouraged that many of our council members rely on expert testimony and input before making decisions on very important issues. So I want to start this by centering sending this conversation on families, especially families with children. Stable housing is not just a good thing to have a roof over your head. It's the foundation for a child's safety, education, health, and long-term well-being. When families have a stable place to live, children are more likely to attend school consistently, parents are better able to maintain employment, and the entire family has a fair chance to thrive. Right now, one of the biggest challenges we're facing on Hawaii Island is that families are staying in shelter much longer. And it's not because they're not ready to move on, it's because there are so few housing options available to them. Affordable housing units are extremely limited, and landlords are often unable or unwilling to rent families coming out of homelessness. As a result, shelter becomes bottlenecked when one family cannot exit, another family remains on a waiting list, or worse, unsheltered. So we're seeing too many families with children experiencing homelessness on this island. And it's not due to a lack of effort by service providers. It is a reflection of a housing system that simply does not have enough inventory to meet the need. By supporting this resolution, you are helping to create pathways out of shelter and into permanent housing. That movement matters. When families are able to transition into stable housing, it opens up critical shelter space for other families who are in urgent need of safety and support. It creates a flow in a system that is currently backed up. We need to be honest about what is driving homelessness. None of us should be surprised that more people are being pushed into homelessness. Study by the U.S. government accountability office found that for every 100 increase in average rent, homelessness increased by 9%. This is a structural issue tied to a housing market. It's not something that service providers like Hope Services can control. What we can do, and what we are doing is to ensure that once people are housed, that they maintain that housing. 30 seconds, please. 93% of the individuals that we house, we'll look at them two years later, they're still housed. However, the reality is for every one person we house, between two and four more fall into homelessness. The gap continues to widen unless we take action to increase housing opportunities. Resolution 475-26 is an important step towards addressing that gap, supports the development and expansion of housing solutions that our community urgently needs. Okay, thank you. Mr. Clerk. Resolution 475-26 draft. Resolution 475-26 draft two authorizes and directs the director of finance to negotiate the disposition of certain rural property by lease to nonprofit organizations for permanent housing purposes, authorizing negotiation of six one-year leases with four one-year renewal options and an approximate annual cost and ten dollars for six residential properties to be used as long-term permanent housing for underserved populations introduced by councilmember Connolly Kleinfelder by request. Chair motion to approve resolution 475-26 draft two. Motion by Mr. Houstis, second by Miss Galimba. Discussions in Kona? Anyone? Ms. Viegus. Yes, if I could ask housing administrator K how cost did it come up. Thank you, Keiko, for joining her.