Affordable housing remains top concern for many residents, finds annual statewide survey

Hawaiʻi’s housing crisis continues to grab the attention of island residents who rate the need for affordable housing as their No. 1 concern on which elected leaders should focus.

That’s just one of many notable headlines in the winter 2025 edition of Hawai‘i Perspectives, a scientific survey of more than 900 residents throughout the state.

The survey was commissioned by Pacific Resource Partnership and was conducted from July 1 through Aug. 10.

By conducting surveys in all four of the state’s counties, Hawai‘i Perspectives provides a look at how island residents view issues critical to the future of the islands, including hard calls that need to be made regarding Hawai‘i’s housing crisis.

For example:

• 71% of residents statewide agree Hawai‘i should build more housing as quickly as possible.
• 53% agree the government should pay for infrastructure for new housing to decrease the cost to homebuyers. Having homebuilders pay for infrastructure such as roads, sewers, water and electricity can add $200,000 or more to the price of a home.
• 55% of those polled support upping the height limit for new residential buildings in select areas to increase housing supply.
• 86% of respondents would support a rent-to-own program that allows people to rent a home and use a portion of that rent toward the down payment on a unit.
• 79% of those surveyed support building more homes and shops near bus or rail stations so people can live and work close to public transportation
• 58% support suspending laws that slow the permitting and approval of new housing.
• Nearly 7 out of 10 residents (68%) say government red tape is a barrier to more housing.
• 52% say the state constitution should be changed to allow infrastructure financing with bonds.

Hawai‘i Perspectives also asked residents whether they see the military’s presence in Hawai‘i as a benefit or drawback.

Most respondents, a strong 68%, said the benefits of the military outweigh any drawbacks while 89% say the military is “very” or “somewhat” important to the state’s economy.

However, many respondents (47%) say the military should do a better job communicating with residents and should build more housing on its bases (59%).

As for retaining the use of state-owned land at Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawai‘i Island, 48% of those polled are in support while 41% oppose.

The new survey also dives into how the cost of infrastructure is passed onto homebuyers when government refuses to fund it.

One housing project in Kona on Hawai‘i Island saw the average price increase by more than $220,000 per unit because of the cost of building new sewers, water lines, roads and electricity.

These costs are ultimately passed on to the homebuyer, but creative financing that allows infrastructure to be funded through bonds would help lower prices.

“Hawai‘i needs more than 64,000 units of housing right now, so it’s not a question of whether we should build, but how quickly we can act,” said Pacific Resource Partnership Executive Director Nathaniel Kinney in a release about the survey’s results. “The winter 2025 edition of Hawai‘i Perspectives makes it clear that island residents are willing to make hard calls to help solve our housing crisis and they want our policymakers to act quickly and deliberately.”

Kinney hopes the information contained in the winter 2025 Hawai‘i Perspectives fuels innovative solutions that produces the housing Hawai‘i residents desperately need and want.

A digital version of the winter 2025 edition of Hawai‘i Perspectives can be downloaded by visiting the recently refreshed Pacific Resource Partnership website.

The Hawai‘i Perspectives survey was conducted by Anthology Research, a Honolulu-based full-service market research firm with nearly 30 years of experience in quantitative and qualitative research services to clients throughout the Pacific region.

Margin of error for the statewide sample of 907 survey participants is plus or minus 3.25 percentage points, with a 95% level of confidence.