Hawaii Housing Planning Study (HHPS) Landing Page

Welcome to the Hawaii Housing Planning Study (HHPS) Landing Page!

 

The Hawaii Housing Planning Study (HHPS) is a comprehensive set of housing data prepared for a consortium of state and county housing agencies. The study identifies current housing conditions, presents demographic and economic characteristics of Hawaiʻi’s households, and measures housing need, demand and preferences. It also provides an update on the housing inventory and rental housing data.

The 2024 Hawaiʻi Housing Planning Study (HHPS) has been released and is now available to the public.

The study estimates that Hawaiʻi will need 64,490 additional housing units to meet demand by 2027.

While the new total suggests that there was a significant jump in the number of units needed over the 2019 HHPS, the increase is primarily the result of an updated and improved methodology that provides a more accurate picture and better reflects Hawaiʻi’s unique housing situations than the one that was used in the previous study.

Among the study’s key findings is that the distribution of units needed varies by county:

  • The City and County of Honolulu will need 25,710 units.
  • Maui County will need 14,987 units (pre-Maui wildfire numbers).
  • Hawaiʻi County will need 18,879 units.
  • Kauaʻi County will need 4,914 units.

The HHPS further estimates the number of units needed at various income levels and found that 65% of the units (42,100) are needed for households earning 80% of the area median income (AMI) or below.

Additional Key Findings from the study include:

  • An Affordability Gap: In 2022, a household trying to afford the average two-bedroom unit in Hawaiʻi spending no more than 30% of its income, needed to earn a combined $41.83 per hour. The average household renting in Hawaiʻi, however, only earned a combined $24.37 per hour. In other words, they were earning $17.46 less than needed — leaving the largest gap in the United States – thus causing most renting households to pay far more than 30% of their income on housing.
  • Severe Cost Burden: 8% of renters spent over 30% of their income on housing. Nearly a quarter of Maui County households paid 50% of their income or more.
  • Vacancy Impacts: Of the 516,242 total housing units available to residents in 2022, 21,415 (4.1%) were vacant and available, while 35,884 units (0.7%) were unavailable due to seasonal or vacation use.
  • Pipeline Impact: The 13,471 units estimated in the development pipeline helped to address the total units anticipated to total units needed by 2027, although the gap widens for units affordable to households earning over 80% AMI.
  • Income Disparity: 64% of the units needed (42,100) are for households earning 80% AMI or less, with 26.7% (17,242 units) for those earning 30% AMI or below. In 2019, units at 80% AMI and below comprised 52% of needed units and those for households earning 30% AMI and below comprised 20.8% of needed units.

The increase in the statewide housing units needed increased from 50,156 in the 2019 HHPS to 64,490 in the 2024 study. Although the 14,000-plus number suggests a significant jump in the number of units needed, the increase is primarily the result of an updated and improved methodology as explained above. HHFDC emphasizes that a significant gap still exists and that much work remains to address the shortage of homes needed for Hawaiʻi families.

  1. Pipeline Units Added to Supply – For the first time, the 2024 HHPS includes 13,471 units in the housing production pipeline between 2023 and 2027 that are expected to be completed by year-end 2027, helping to close the gap of total needed units. Previous studies acknowledged these projects but did not factor them into the anticipated supply projections.
  2. Swap Space Added to Demand – Earlier HHPS reports have discussed a portion of housing units being unavailable at a given time as they are actively in the process of being rented or sold. The updated model now includes these units within demand, accounting for an additional 27,563 units in the estimates.

If the previous methodology was used for the 2024 study, the estimated housing units needed would have remained similar between the 2019 and 2024 studies.

“It’s no surprise that the new HHPS continues to show a strong demand for additional housing units,” HHFDC Executive Director Dean Minakami said. “But this study provides us with important new insights and perspectives that will allow us to better pinpoint how we can battle and eventually eliminate the affordable housing crisis.”