Latest news with #OfficeofHousing
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Honolulu Council OKs merged housing department
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi's longtime vow to merge the city's real estate and housing agencies into one unified operation has come to fruition. During a special meeting Wednesday, the City Council voted 6-1, with Radiant Cordero dissenting, to adopt Resolution 86, which advanced the mayor's plan to create the city Department of Housing and Land Management. The Council's approved merger—which amends the City Charter via the mayor's executive power to reorganize city departments—will supposedly consolidate key housing and land functions. Those tasks involve the city Department of Land Management, the Mayor's Office of Housing, as well as the city Department of Planning and Permitting and city Department of Community Serv ices, into a single entity with 51 full-time positions, the city said. Kevin Auger, executive director of the Office of Housing since November, has been nominated by the mayor to serve as DHLM's director. Catherine Taschner, director designate of DLM, has been appointed to become the new department's deputy director, the city said. 'This marks the first time in 27 years that the city will have a fully staffed department dedicated to the development of much needed housing, ' Blangiardi said in a statement. 'When I took office in 2021, the Office of Housing had just one employee. Today, we are launching a department built from the ground up—one that reflects our administration's resolve to take action, cut through bureaucracy, and deliver real results for the people of Oahu.' 'DHLM will give us the structure, the scale, and the leadership to do more—and do it faster, ' the mayor added. The new department will feature two major new divisions : a housing development division to lead partnerships on city-owned land, and a housing finance division to create innovative funding tools that reduce barriers to development, the city said. DHLM's formation aligns with the city's 2025-2028 Strategic Housing Plan, released in January, which aims to partner with developers to 'activate underutilized ' city-owned lands on the island and involve using new types of 'financing strategies ' to build more housing on the island. Before the vote, Council member Val Okimoto questioned the city about staffing—including leadership positions within divisions of DHLM that still remain vacant—and the logistics of the new department. 'I think in theory it seems wonderful, (but ) I wonder how feasible this is, ' Oki moto said. 'And in your mind, knowing that we still have some vacancies that you're having to fill, how long do you think you anticipate before you're running efficiently ?' In response, Auger said DHLM 'won't be fully funded until July, ' with the start of the 2026 fiscal year. 'And then obviously, it takes time to identify really good candidates, ' he added. 'We're starting with the top leadership for those divisions, because generally when you hire somebody to lead a division, they can bring other people in under them. But it's still going to take time … and we've got to start somewhere.' Cordero expressed displeasure over the way the new city department was brought to the Council. 'It's been very sloppy, and honestly, as a Council member, I feel like we've been pushed into a corner to pass this as well as putting it into the budget, to also approve of that budget under DHLM, ' she said. 'Council member, I appreciate and respect those comments, I do, ' Auger replied. 'However, the mayor announced this (reorganization ) in the State of the City in 2023, mentioned it again in 2024, and we've been working closely with Housing Committee Chair (Matt ) Weyer on this process. It's been almost two years.' But Cordero shot back, 'That's my exact question to you : Why are we doing it in March 2025, with 60 days for the Council to pass it ? We could have had it even at the end of last year, and introduced it in March of 2025.' Auger replied, 'The simple answer to that is it's important. It's not an issue of trying to jam the Council.' 'No, ' Cordero retorted, 'you jammed the Council.' Council Chair Tommy Waters—who has expressed support for the merged department—recently requested the city administration provide a list of all city-owned properties on Oahu. In a written response Tuesday, city Managing Director Mike Formby told Waters the city does not have easy access to records regarding city-owned properties. 'The responsibility for properties was decentralized in 1998 following the disbandment of the former Department of Housing and Community Development, ' Formby explained. He'd note that one of the goals of the reorganization 'is to aggregate all housing programs and properties, particularly affordable housing programs and properties, into DHLM for centralized reporting consistent with the Charter.' Formby said the inventory of city-owned properties is maintained on the city's Enterprise Resource Planning System, or C2HERPS, platform. 'Unfortunately, that platform lacks a user-friendly interface for sortable data review and reporting, ' he added. Still, Formby said city staff are working 'to aggregate and update data from various departments, which is distinctive and incomplete in its existing format, to create a comprehensive database as required ' by City Charter. He noted the requested 'database will be maintained in DHLM.' 'In closing, I apologize that we are not presently able to deliver the requested update, ' Formby said, 'but we are working in good faith on what we agree is a necessary database for both Council and the administration, and we will update Council as we make improvements.' At the meeting, Waters said his April 8 request for a list of city-owned properties was related to affordable housing. 'The reason it's important is I'm asking each of the Council members to look at city-owned properties in their districts that we can identify for affordable housing, ' he added. Although he received Formby's response, Waters asked, 'Do you have any more information on when we can expect that list ?' 'I don't, Chair, ' Auger replied, 'I can certainly follow up on that and get back to you on that.' Waters said, 'The idea is we want to help you build affordable housing.' And he added, 'If we don't know what properties we have, it makes it that much more difficult.' In response, Auger said, 'We do have an inventory of property ; it's just not really accessible in the way that we'd really like to see it be accessible.' Auger asserted that 10 city-owned properties have been identified for up to 2, 500 units, 'which is more than we can currently finance.' Council members Augie Tulba and Andria Tupola were absent from the meeting.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NM Gov's Office of Housing moving to state workforce agency
The Village Center Project, including 204 affordable housing units, under construction in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque in July 2023. (Photo courtesy Village Of Los Ranchos) A small team of state employees focused on solving New Mexico's housing crisis will move from the governor's office to the state's workforce agency, a temporary move while the informal office seeks a permanent home. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has sought statutory authority for a state Office of Housing from the New Mexico Legislature for the last two years, but legislation doing so failed in both sessions. Legislation would have empowered the four-person team to create a statewide strategy to solve the housing shortage and attached it administratively to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, which received more than $100 million this legislative session to spend on housing and homelessness. In a news release Monday, the governor's office said the move to the Department of Workforce Solutions will create a strong connection between job creation and housing, plus allow for more accountability after the state's significant investment in solving the housing crisis here. Record number of housing bills introduced this session, but little to show for it, advocate says 'This move will ensure that the Office of Housing has the resources it needs to put these dollars to use solving our state's housing shortage as we continue pursuing legislation to make the state's housing and homelessness initiatives permanent,' Lujan Grisham said in a statement. The move comes a few weeks after the governor fired Daniel Werwath, her senior housing policy adviser tasked with, among other things, convincing lawmakers to approve a state Housing Office. Werwath told Source New Mexico after his departure that he tried to achieve 'some systemic change around housing, which apparently there's less appetite for than I had hoped.' The state lacks more than 30,000 housing units, according to recent estimates. Employers in Albuquerque, where lawmakers hope the majority of new housing spending will occur, added 31,000 jobs in the last three years, but city developers added only 9,000 new housing units in that period, according to a January report from Pew Charitable Trusts. In the coming months, Workforce Solutions Secretary Sarita Nair will come up with a recommendation for the office's permanent home, governor's spokesperson Michael Coleman told Source New Mexico. 'It could remain at DWS, move to another agency, or stand alone. There is no firm deadline for the recommendation. The governor is confident that DWS is the right place for the Office of Housing at this time,' Coleman said in an email Tuesday. Nair, in the news release, said one of the state workforce's biggest challenges is finding affordable housing. Merging the housing office and the workforce agency will enable 'strong collaboration and accountability,' she said.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State of the City address: Honolulu mayor discusses housing, Ocean Safety and more
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi took the stage at the Mission memorial Auditorium shortly after 6 p.m. on March 18 to deliver his State of the City address, highlighting his vision for Honolulu's future, including accessible housing, transportation and more. Blangiardi kicked off his speech by highlighting outmigration from the islands, calling the migration 'unprecedented' and linking it to the high cost of living in Hawaiʻi. Honolulu Fire Department celebrates 117th graduating recruit class The mayor highlighted the creation of the Department of Housing and Land Management, marking the first time in almost 30 years that Honolulu has a fully-staffed housing department. The new department will be led by current executive director of the Office of Housing, Kevin Auger, who will become the new department's director. Cat Taschner will serve as the new department's deputy director. 'For most of the past year, Kevin, Cat and their teams have already been working as a single unit, completely rethinking our housing strategy,' Blangiardi said. 'Together, they have reestablished a housing platform at the city that is geared toward execution rather than policy, toward development rather than deliberation and toward results rather than rhetoric.'The new housing plan is composed of two key components according to Blangiardi, with the first component being transforming underutilized city properties into affordable housing projects. Blangiardi says that at least 10 properties around Honolulu have already been identified as underutilized, as they have been 'sitting around for years, with no plan or strategy.' The transition of these 10 properties will bring nearly 2,000 new affordable housing units to the island according to the mayor. The second key component to the new plan involves financing the development, with the city's housing team looking at using multi-family taxable revenue bonds to help. Bill to develop Kakaʻako dies in State Senate Blangiardi also highlighted offering more leasing options, making it easier for government services and nonprofits to lease city properties to help serve residents. 'We cannot call housing our top priority and then insist on the status quo when it comes to our leasing rules,' Blangiardi said. 'Making smart revisions to Chapter 38 will have a wider impact than just housing.' The mayor also noted the city's acquisition of Iwilei Center, which will be turned into a mixed-use community with at least 2,000 new additional units, all geared toward affordable living. 'With Iwilei Center, we are making good on our promise to build an equitable community where all residents, regardless of income, have the same opportunities to live, work, shop, learn and play as everyone else,' he said. 'Chance at new beginnings,' Iwilei kauhale community blessed While the transformation of Iwilei Center will take years, the mayor mentioned maximizing resources by having the center serve as a homeless shelter in the meantime, to help ease the pain of homelessness on Oʻahu communities. Blangiardi also discussed expanding Skyline into Kalihi, and eventually into Downtown Honolulu and Waikiki by 2031. The second segment of Skyline operations from Aloha Stadium to Middle Street will open in October of this year. In addition to housing and transportation, Blangiardi also discussed expansion of Ocean Safety procedures, particularly on the North Shore. Audit reveals Honolulu rail system falls short of ridership goals 'We are announcing tonight our intent to purchase a highly-coveted piece of land across the street from Shark's Cove for the creation of a world-class first responder hub,' Blangiardi said. 'These plans are subject to a negotiated sale price with the current landowner, but will be transformative for our North Shore communities.' According to the mayor, the new hub will serve as a base of operations for lifeguards on the North Shore, while also featuring a brand new ambulance station aimed at reducing emergency response times. While on the topic of first responder accessibility, Blangiardi said that EMS needs to focus specifically on medical response to remain efficient, which is one of the reasons Ocean Safety is slated to become its own agency. Honolulu's new Ocean Safety Department plans to bring major upgrades to lifeguard services 'We were confident that we could run EMS more efficiently. In that effort, it became quite apparent that EMS needed to focus specifically on medical response, and that Ocean Safety had earned the right to be its own first responder agency,' Blangiardi said. 'However, I want to be clear, in executing our vision, I strongly support Dr. Jim Ireland as the director of Emergency Services.' The mayor also went on to address concerns regarding federal funding, saying that Honolulu's major programs have avoided federal cuts for now. 'I want to be clear: as of today, none of our major programs have been impacted by federal cuts, including funding from the [Federal Transit Administration] for our rail project,' he said. In light of political and economic uncertainty, Blangiardi ended his address with a message of perseverance. 'For the first time in years, our people of hope. They believe in this place for what it is, and for what it can be,' Blangiardi said. 'We believe in it too, and we promise to work until the last minute of our last day to deliver.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State of the City address: Honolulu mayor discusses housing, Ocean Safety and more
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi took the stage at the Mission memorial Auditorium shortly after 6 p.m. on March 18 to deliver his State of the City address, highlighting his vision for Honolulu's future, including accessible housing, transportation and more. Blangiardi kicked off his speech by highlighting outmigration from the islands, calling the migration 'unprecedented' and linking it to the high cost of living in Hawaiʻi. Honolulu Fire Department celebrates 117th graduating recruit class The mayor highlighted the creation of the Department of Housing and Land Management, marking the first time in almost 30 years that Honolulu has a fully-staffed housing department. The new department will be led by current executive director of the Office of Housing, Kevin Auger, who will become the new department's director. Cat Taschner will serve as the new department's deputy director. 'For most of the past year, Kevin, Cat and their teams have already been working as a single unit, completely rethinking our housing strategy,' Blangiardi said. 'Together, they have reestablished a housing platform at the city that is geared toward execution rather than policy, toward development rather than deliberation and toward results rather than rhetoric.'The new housing plan is composed of two key components according to Blangiardi, with the first component being transforming underutilized city properties into affordable housing projects. Blangiardi says that at least 10 properties around Honolulu have already been identified as underutilized, as they have been 'sitting around for years, with no plan or strategy.' The transition of these 10 properties will bring nearly 2,000 new affordable housing units to the island according to the mayor. The second key component to the new plan involves financing the development, with the city's housing team looking at using multi-family taxable revenue bonds to help. Bill to develop Kakaʻako dies in State Senate Blangiardi also highlighted offering more leasing options, making it easier for government services and nonprofits to lease city properties to help serve residents. 'We cannot call housing our top priority and then insist on the status quo when it comes to our leasing rules,' Blangiardi said. 'Making smart revisions to Chapter 38 will have a wider impact than just housing.' The mayor also noted the city's acquisition of Iwilei Center, which will be turned into a mixed-use community with at least 2,000 new additional units, all geared toward affordable living. 'With Iwilei Center, we are making good on our promise to build an equitable community where all residents, regardless of income, have the same opportunities to live, work, shop, learn and play as everyone else,' he said. 'Chance at new beginnings,' Iwilei kauhale community blessed While the transformation of Iwilei Center will take years, the mayor mentioned maximizing resources by having the center serve as a homeless shelter in the meantime, to help ease the pain of homelessness on Oʻahu communities. Blangiardi also discussed expanding Skyline into Kalihi, and eventually into Downtown Honolulu and Waikiki by 2031. The second segment of Skyline operations from Aloha Stadium to Middle Street will open in October of this year. In addition to housing and transportation, Blangiardi also discussed expansion of Ocean Safety procedures, particularly on the North Shore. Audit reveals Honolulu rail system falls short of ridership goals 'We are announcing tonight our intent to purchase a highly-coveted piece of land across the street from Shark's Cove for the creation of a world-class first responder hub,' Blangiardi said. 'These plans are subject to a negotiated sale price with the current landowner, but will be transformative for our North Shore communities.' According to the mayor, the new hub will serve as a base of operations for lifeguards on the North Shore, while also featuring a brand new ambulance station aimed at reducing emergency response times. While on the topic of first responder accessibility, Blangiardi said that EMS needs to focus specifically on medical response to remain efficient, which is one of the reasons Ocean Safety is slated to become its own agency. Honolulu's new Ocean Safety Department plans to bring major upgrades to lifeguard services 'We were confident that we could run EMS more efficiently. In that effort, it became quite apparent that EMS needed to focus specifically on medical response, and that Ocean Safety had earned the right to be its own first responder agency,' Blangiardi said. 'However, I want to be clear, in executing our vision, I strongly support Dr. Jim Ireland as the director of Emergency Services.' The mayor also went on to address concerns regarding federal funding, saying that Honolulu's major programs have avoided federal cuts for now. 'I want to be clear: as of today, none of our major programs have been impacted by federal cuts, including funding from the [Federal Transit Administration] for our rail project,' he said. In light of political and economic uncertainty, Blangiardi ended his address with a message of perseverance. 'For the first time in years, our people of hope. They believe in this place for what it is, and for what it can be,' Blangiardi said. 'We believe in it too, and we promise to work until the last minute of our last day to deliver.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New Strategic Housing Plan for Oahu is launched by city
In what the city describes as bold and unprecedented, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi's administration this week publicly announced its plan to expand construction of more housing across Oahu. Coinciding with the mayor's second four-year term, the city's Office of Housing released its 2025-2028 Strategic Housing Plan, which aims to partner with developers to 'activate underutilized ' city-owned lands on the island and involve using new types of 'financing strategies ' to build more housing on the island. And the city's plan also calls for the merger of the existing Mayor's Office of Housing with the existing city Department of Land Management—to create the new Department of Housing and Land Management—to supposedly centralize and streamline the city's development, finance and policy efforts. The same plan would consolidate all homeless and transitional housing functions under the city Department of Community Services, the city says. The plan, which does not offer an overall number of new housing units the city expects to develop on the island, will supposedly lay the groundwork for such development in the coming years—or at least as long as the Blangiardi administration remains in office. The mayor's second and final term ends in 2028. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. 'This is about us moving from planning to execution, and a lot of our next term is going to be about doing precisely that, ' Blangiardi said during a news conference inside Honolulu Hale Wednesday. 'But I can't think of anything more profound or important for us in the city's involvement in what we're going to do to create housing.' The mayor's news conference also featured a few 'special guests '—namely, representatives from large developer firms including Kobayashi Group LLC, Stanford Carr Development LLC, and Castle &Cooke Hawaii, among others. City officials outlined the housing plan's key initiatives :—Expand transit-oriented development, or TOD, via Skyline to create high-density, mixed-use communities along its nearly 20-mile route. That effort would concentrate growth—housing, offices, retail, education, and government services—in Hono lulu's primary urban center. The TOD corridors would reduce commute times, lower transportation costs, and support Hono lulu's sustainability goals.—Activate Skyline's Kuwili Station TOD Redevelopment Area. The plan states the city and state's land holdings in the Iwilei area—where the Kuwili Station is planned—will help 'improve connectivity, address environmental concerns, and mitigate flood risks.' The plan envisions thousands of housing units within a mixed-use district, backed by $2.7 million in federal and state grants for infrastructure and master planning.—Accelerate housing development by leveraging underutilized public lands and streamlining procurement processes to expedite partnerships with local developers.—Enhance housing finance strategies. City officials say existing funding sources for affordable housing, including general obligation bonds, private activity bonds, and the Affordable Housing Fund—Ordinance 7-19—are limited. The city is currently exploring new financing strategies—some derived from other cities and counties on the mainland—to expand opportunities for housing development here.—Improve housing policies and processes with support from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, or UHERO. To that end, city officials say they will conduct a comprehensive review of housing programs and policies. A new set of recommendations is expected by late 2025. At the news conference, Office of Housing Executive Director Kevin Auger said the housing plan—released to the public Friday—is the first time the city has 'addressed our affordable housing crisis in over 25 years.' 'It provides a road map outlining direct actions that the city will be undertaking to facilitate the production of housing on Oahu, ' he said. 'But more than that, it represents a fundamental shift toward a proactive delivery model that emphasizes execution, public-private collaboration and strategic investment.' In part, Auger said Skyline will offer TOD housing through urban Honolulu, where the rail will roll into downtown by 2031. 'TOD development concentrates growth and density in the primary urban areas without encroaching on rural areas, ' he said. He added the 'immediate focus ' of TOD projects would be in the Iwilei area, and at the Kuwili Skyline Station, near the old Iwilei Center. In January 2024, the city announced it closed a $51.5 million deal to purchase the Iwilei Center. The transaction will convert the existing center—long home to warehouses, loading docks, offices for lease as well as more than two dozen commercial tenants—to a new, city-owned affordable housing development, the city said. Acquired by the city's Department of Land Management from Iwilei Center LLC, an affiliate of Blacksand Capital, the purchase of the 3.8-acre property includes addresses at 850 and 866 Iwilei Road and 505 Kaaahi St., respectively. 'We believe that conservatively that that area can support 1, 500 to 2, 000 housing units, that's directly located adjacent to Chinatown, it's within walking distance of downtown, ' he said, adding TOD development will reduce residents' 'dependency on automobiles, reducing the cost to support them.' Deemed the first phase of the mayor's new housing plan, Auger said the city has 'an aggressive ' schedule to break ground on the Iwilei development by 2028. He noted the city also owns 10 properties around Oahu—from Waianae to Waikiki—that are ripe for redevelopment. 'The combined total (is ) about 35 acres, ' Auger said. 'We believe conservatively those lands can accommodate close to 2, 600 housing units, including the Iwilei Center development.' He added 'to move these properties into development, we're committed to issuing requests for qualifications to secure development partners for all of these properties for calendar year 2025.' 'The first request for qualifications includes the portfolio of four properties, and that was issued just last Friday, ' he said. But Auger admitted developing housing projects on Oahu could take time—in the case of Iwilei Center, it will be three years before the project breaks ground. 'It takes a long time to get a development off the ground in Hawaii, ' Auger told news reporters. 'Environmental review, planning and permitting, development … and most importantly, getting a line of low-income housing tax credits, if you're building affordable housing.' 'When you look at private activity bonds and low-income housing tax credits, that combination, and you look at the last five years—that program is administered by Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation—that limited resource only delivers less than a thousand units a year on average, ' he added. At the news conference, individual developers did not speak on or address the city's prospective developments. But Council Vice Chair Matt Weyer, chair of the panel's Housing, Sustainability, Economy and Health Committee, spoke to the importance of creating more housing for residents. 'We see the need for resources on all parts of the spectrum, from non-congregate (housing ), to low-moderate income households, to market-rate units, ' Weyer said. 'And we see the need to address the out-migration. It's not just affecting our families, it's affecting our workforce.' After the news conference, Housing Hawaii's Future Policy Director Perry Arrasmith told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that his nonprofit, which advocates for more workforce housing for teachers, firefighters, police officers and health care workers, was impressed with the city's new housing plan. 'This has been something that the city has needed for a really long time, ' he said, 'and now it's going to be a matter of actually implementing this plan.'
