Honolulu Housing Committee Meeting on Chapter 32 and Gift Resolutions - May 21, 2026
Committee on Housing, Homelessness, and Parks Meeting - May 21, 2026
The Committee on Housing, Homelessness, and Parks convened on Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 1:04 PM. The meeting was chaired by Councilmember Tipola and attended by Councilmembers Cordero and Toba, with Councilmember Nishimoto and Councilmember Wire excused. The meeting remotely via conference technology. The primary business included unanimous approval of eight gift resolutions (items 1–6 and 7–8) for the Mayor's Memorial Day ceremony and Honolulu Zoo, followed by an informational briefing on the UHERO draft analysis of Chapter 32 (Bill 7), the city's workforce housing program.
Consent Calendar
- Resolution 26-111 CD1 (Aloha Air Cargo): Accepted in-kind shipping services valued at $2,500 for shipping lei materials. Amended via posted CD1 and reported out for adoption.
- Resolution 26-112 CD1 (Diamond Bakery): Accepted cookies valued at $606 for Boy Scout volunteers. Amended via CD1 and adopted.
- Resolution 26-113 CD1 (Murakami Farms): Accepted weekly tea leaf donations valued at $8,000 for lei-making. Amended via CD1 and adopted.
- Resolution 26-115 (Old Spaghetti Factory): Accepted 300 free kids' meal coupons ($2,397) for Easter Egg Hunt goodie bags. Adopted.
- Resolution 26-117 (Oahu Pickleball Association): Accepted pickleball equipment valued at $1,584 for Palolo Valley District Park. Adopted.
- Resolution 26-118 CD1 (Rangel Packaging): Accepted corrugated boxes valued at $1,368 for lei storage. Amended via CD1 and adopted.
- Resolution 26-125 (Honolulu Zoological Society): Accepted central air conditioning unit valued at $14,816.75 for zoo office trailer. Adopted.
- Resolution 26-126 (Honolulu Zoological Society): Accepted modifications to Gariel exhibit pump replacement valued at $4,995.56. Adopted.
Discussion Items
- Informational Briefing on UHERO Draft Analysis of Chapter 32 (Bill 7): Gavin Thornton, Housing Policy Director, presented preliminary findings from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (UHERO) draft study. Key findings included:
- Chapter 32 targets workforce housing at 80–100% area median income (AMI), addressing a gap not covered by traditional subsidies.
- Financial feasibility modeling showed that without Chapter 32, only 20% of small infill parcels were profitable; with Chapter 32, 95% showed positive profit, increasing expected production from 102 units to 1,685 units.
- The program has produced housing but not the 500 units per year target; permit applications have slowed since 2023.
- Projects are concentrated in transit-rich urban areas (65 projects within 400 meters of a bus stop), where residents are less likely to rely on cars, supporting the absence of minimum parking requirements.
- Permitting times are longer than the 90-day shot clock and longer than other multifamily projects, reducing program value.
- Policy options identified: creating a second-generation program focused on rail/TOD areas, extending to business districts, establishing a separate permitting pathway, reviewing code exemptions, and pairing with city land/financing.
- Chair Tipola's Feedback: The Chair provided extensive written comments on the draft report, critiquing its structure, outdated references, unsupported claims (e.g., “common criticism” without citation), and lack of developer input data. She recommended the housing department guide UHERO to narrow the study’s focus on Chapter 32, include a single methodology section, and present data on developer perspectives. She also questioned the suggestion to change FAR, noting developers had told her they did not want it.
- Councilmember Cordero's Questions: He asked about policy changes to accelerate spending of the $135 million Affordable Housing Fund and whether amendments to Chapter 32 could help. Director Kevin O'J clarified the fund is limited to 60% AMI and does not support Bill 7 projects; a separate pre/post-development fund exists. He noted a broader housing presentation is scheduled for June 23, 2026.
- Councilmember Toba's Comment: He observed that Chapter 32 is acting as a pilot and may eventually dissolve into broader zoning changes like Bill 6, requiring further legislative evolution.
Key Outcomes
- All eight gift resolutions were approved unanimously without objection or testimony.
- The informational briefing was received; no formal action was taken. Chair Tipola will send her written feedback to the housing department for transmission to UHERO. The department will return in July 2026 with UHERO's final report.
Meeting Transcript
Aloha and good afternoon, everyone. It is Thursday, May 21st, 2026, and the time is one oh four PM. Will the committee on housing, homelessness, and parks meeting please come to order? Welcome, committee members, Cordero and Tolba, Committee Member Nishimoto is excused, as well as Council Member Wire. Joining us, um, we do not have anyone joining us by video conference. Pursuant to Hawaii revised statute, section ninety two-three point seven, this meeting will be conducted as 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 of the agenda. When each item is taken up in two ways, in person in the council chamber and remotely before testifying. Each person shall state their name for the record and be limited to a one-minute presentation on each item. All persons who registered to testify in person will be called upon first. Persons who have not registered will be given an opportunity to testify following the registered testifiers. As both English and Hawaiian are official languages of the state of Hawaii pursuant to Article 15 section four of the Hoisty Constitution, HRS section one-thirty members of the public may testify in either language. For oral testimonies offered in a level, Hawaii additional time as may be necessary, will be allowed for the testifier to provide an English translation for their testimony. Testimony and discussion on these items will be taken up together, and the votes on each item will be taken up individually. For items one, two, three, and six. There are gifts for the annual mayor's memorial day ceremony to be held at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Pool Vaina. Item number one, resolution 26-111, accepting a gift to the city from Aekokula LLC DBA Aloha Air Cargo of in-kind shipping services valued at 2500 for the shipping of flowers and lay from the neighbor islands to Honolulu to support the making and collection of 38,000 Lei. Please note that a proposal CD1 to the resolution identified as OCS 2026-0325 backslash five backslash 15 backslash 2026 1139 a.m. was posted on the agenda. And a summary of the amendments was also posted. Item number two, resolution 26-112, accepting a gift to the city from Diamond Bakery of cookies valued $606 for the Boy Scouts who will be volunteering. Please note that a proposed CD one to the resolution identified as OCS 2026 dash 0318 backslash five backslash 15 backslash 2026 758 a.m. was posted on the agenda. And a summary of the amendments was also posted. Item three, resolution 26-113, accepting a gift to the city from Murakami Farms on ongoing weekly donations of commercial tea leaf valued at 8,000, which will be sown into lay by public volunteers. Please note that a proposed CD1 to the resolution identified as OCS 2026 0319 backslash five backslash 15 backslash 2026 1104 a.m. was posted on the agenda. And a summary of the amendments was also posted. Item number four, resolution 26-115, accepting a gift to the city from the old spaghetti factory of 300 free kids' meals coupons totaling 2,397, which were used for goodie bag and or basket items at the Diamond Head Complex Easter Egg Hunt. Item number five, resolution 26-117, accepting a gift to the city for the Oahu Pickleball Association of three champion pickleball net systems. 12 engage pickleball encore pro v2.0 paddles and 12 Franklin pickleballs totaling 1,584 to be used at Palolo Valley District Park. Item 6, resolution 26-118, accepting a gift to the city from Rangel packaging of 100 small corrugated boxes, 300 medium corrugated boxes, 54 large corrugated boxes valued at 1,36.80 cents to store and transport lay. Please note that a proposed CD1 to the resolution identified as OCS 2026-0317 backslash 5 backslash 15 backslash 2026 1044 AM was posted on the agenda. And a summary of the amendments was also posted. With us, we have Kehaul Lanipu, Deputy Director of Department of Parks of Recreation. Aloha chair and members of the council mahalo for your time today. Without their support, we would not be able to make both the lay sewing and the ceremony itself a success. So thank you very much for that. And then also our other uh resolutions. We do apologize as they are late. Um we we were a little tardy in submitting our quarter three gift report. So we did want to pull out for transparency, pull out our higher valued um gifts from quarter three uh to be heard before you today. And also I want to mahalo you folks for uh cleaning up our errors in our in our results. Thank you. Thank you, Deputy. Um, I have a question, but council members, any other questions? Uh, who sold all the lay? So our everybody guys or we have so we so lay events, so public will come in and so lays, they'll donate HFD, all of their stations across the island will accept donated lays from community. Uh so lay is baked, so that we have sites at our parks, one here at Honolulu Hale, one at Kapole Hale. That's where we invite community.
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