Hawaii Housing Committee Meeting on Child Care & Property Inventory - September 25, 2025
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Honolulu Committee on Housing, Homelessness, and Parks Meeting - September 25, 2025
Note on date discrepancy: The meeting took place on September 25, 2025 per the provided timestamp, but the raw transcript states the meeting was held on Wednesday, September 24, 2025 at 2:32 p.m.
The Committee on Housing, Homelessness, and Parks convened to consider several resolutions, a bill, and two informational briefings. Key actions included confirming a parks board appointee, accepting gifts, advancing a bill on fire-resistant construction for affordable rental housing, receiving a presentation on a three-year child care action plan, and discussing the ongoing effort to inventory city-owned properties.
Consent Calendar
- Resolution 25-241 (confirming Charles Mitsui to the Board of Parks and Recreation) was reported out for adoption without objection. Mr. Mitsui testified about his background developing skate parks and expressed interest in creating a committee to facilitate community park projects.
- Resolutions 25-250, 25-251, 25-252, and 25-255 (accepting gifts) were all reported out for adoption without objection. These accepted:
- A cook pine tree valued at $3,000 for the 2025 Honolulu City Lights event (25-250)
- A $4,000 monetary gift from HMSA for the 2025 Mayor's Craft and Country Fair (25-251)
- An ice maker valued at $3,000 for Muanaluo Community Park (25-252, adopted as CD1)
- A cook pine tree valued at $3,000 for the 2025 Kapolei City Lights event (25-255)
Public Comments & Testimony
- Bill 39 (2025): Gina Thielen testified online in support of the bill, standing on written testimony and offering to answer questions.
- No public testimony was offered on any other agenda item.
Discussion Items
- Resolution 25-241 – Appointment of Charles Mitsui: Mr. Mitsui answered questions about his background, noting that he started the Association of Skateboarders in Hawaii in 1996 and helped develop nine skate parks. He hoped to return to a committee structure to facilitate new parks.
- Bill 39 (2025) – Fire-Resistant Construction for Affordable Housing: Councilmember Wire introduced a CD1 amendment. Deputy Director Brian Gallagher of the Department of Planning and Permitting stated the department had no comments and was okay with the version. The bill was amended to CD1 and reported out.
- Informational Briefing – Child Care Action Plan: Jordana Ferrero, from the Department of Community Services, presented the city’s three-year action plan (2025-2028). Key statistics shared: 50% of children under age 5 lack access to child care, and 90% of children under age 3 have no access. The plan has four goals: bolstering the workforce, expanding affordable options, empowering families, and building city infrastructure. Councilmembers discussed the need to align with city ordinances (Chapter 11), improve data collection, and streamline permitting. Councilmember Tupola emphasized focusing on one or two high-impact initiatives rather than spreading too thin.
- Informational Briefing – Inventory of Vacant County-Owned Properties: Kevin Ajay (Director Designate, Department of Housing and Land Management) and Chief Data Officer Kara Chichum presented. They described efforts to centralize property data from multiple departments, with a target go-live date of May 2026. Council Chair Waters noted that previous charter mandates had not been fulfilled. Eleven properties suitable for affordable housing development were identified (listed in the summary). Eight RFQs had been issued, with contracts to be negotiated. Councilmember Tupola urged earlier community input and expressed interest in seeing an interim list rather than waiting until 2026.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution 25-241 reported out for adoption (unanimous without objection).
- Resolutions 25-250, 25-251, 25-252 (as CD1), and 25-255 reported out for adoption (unanimous without objection).
- Bill 39 (2025) amended to CD1 and reported out for adoption (unanimous without objection).
- The committee received the informational briefings. Councilmembers requested interim updates on the property inventory and continued collaboration with council districts on site selection for affordable housing.
Meeting Transcript
Aloha and good afternoon, everyone. It's Wednesday, September 24, 2025, and the time is 2.32 p.m. I call the meeting of committee on housing, homelessness, and parks to order. Welcome to committee members who are present in the chamber today. Um, Councilmember Tolba, Councilmember Nishimoto, and Councilmember Okimoto. Thank you so much for being here. Pursuant to Hawaii revised statute section 92-3.7. This meeting will be conducted as a remote meeting by interactive conference technology with the following procedures in effect for the meeting. Members of the public will be allowed to provide oral testimony on all items on the agenda in two ways in person in the council chamber and remotely. Remote and in-person oral testimony will be allowed when each agenda item is taken up and is limited to a one-minute presentation on each item. As both English and Hawaiian are official languages of the state of Hawaii, pursuant to Article 15, Section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution, Section 1-13 of the Hawaii revised statutes. Member of the public may testify in either language. For oral testimonies offered in Olalo Hawaii, additional time may be necessary, will be allowed for the testifier to provide an English translation of their testimony. All persons who have registered to testify in person will be called upon first. When your name is called, please come up to the testifier podium and state your name for the record. Persons who have not registered will be given an opportunity to testify after the registered testifiers. After in-person testimony has occluded, I will proceed to remote testimony via video conference or phone. When I call your name or the last three digits of your phone number, please unmute your audio and press star six when prompted. Hawaii Revice statute section 92-3.7 requires that all votes at a remote meeting be conducted by roll call unless a unanimous vote. Therefore, I will first call for objections, and if there are any, I will call for a roll call vote. Written testimonies, including the testifier's address, email address, phone number, will be available to the public as described on the posted agenda. As a courtesy, please turn off all your silence all your cell phones during the duration of this meeting. Thank you so much. Committee members, let's go to agenda item number one, resolution 25-241. This resolution confirms the appointment of Charles Mitsui to serve on the Board of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu for a term to expire on December 31st, 2027. I do believe he is here with us. Ah, perfect. Mr. Mitsui, please go ahead and introduce yourself. Hi, uh Chuck Mitsui. Um, and I'm looking forward to being part of the parks department and hoping to kind of find pathways for community projects to get to completion. Thank you so much. I'm gonna do testimony and then we'll have uh questions from the council members. Clerks, are there any in-person registered testifiers? Sure, there are none. Are there any in-person non-registered testifiers that would like to testify at this time? Seeing none, clerks, are there any online registered testifiers? Sure, there are none. Are there any unregistered online testifiers wishing to testify on this item? Sure, there are none. Okay, council members, any questions for Mr. Mitsui. Could you give us maybe a one-liner of your background and why you want to be on the board? Sure. Uh, I started the association of skateboarders in Hawaii in 1996, and through that association, we helped develop skate parks on Oahu. I worked with Mayor Harris' administration in the early 2000s, late 90s to develop a skate park committee, which was successful in developing nine skate parks. I'm hoping we can kind of return to that structure, create a committee that will help facilitate the building of skate parks again. It's been a long time since we've had a consistent roll out of new facilities, and the community is very much in favor of us seeing these in the parks. Um, in your opinion, how many more skate parks should we have on this island? Uh currently, Kahuku is developing one.
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