SB 3202 will allow
smaller, more affordable homes in our neighborhoods
while protecting our infrastructure and our environment.
Take Action
Tell your legislators you want more affordable options for working families in our neighborhoods.
Click the button below to tell your legislators to support SB 3202!
Every year, our rising housing costs force thousands of kamaʻāina to move away from Hawaiʻi.
Our islands are losing their soul: our local families.
This year at the Legislature, SB 3202 offers a solution. It’ll legalize smaller, more affordable homes on smaller lots in our neighborhoods, allowing up to two ADUs, but only on lots that have enough space within existing county building size restrictions.
These proven reforms will unlock more affordable housing options in our neighborhoods and give families a more attainable path to the dream of homeownership.
Learn why this bill can help fix our housing shortage
Hawaiʻi’s current zoning regulations ban workforce housing options proven to be more affordable, like smaller homes on small lots and multigenerational housing.
Under this status quo, the average cost of a detached house has surged to over $1 million, and affordable starter homes are all but extinct in our neighborhoods.
By requiring families to buy less land to own a detached house and ensuring multiple generations can remain together, SB 3202 can lower the cost of buying a home in our neighborhoods and help keep our local families in Hawaiʻi.
Hawaiʻi’s working families need more housing options.
A “cottage court” style development with smaller homes on smaller lots: illegal under our current zoning codes, but feasible with SB 3202. Each of these homes would cost much less than one large single-family home on that same large lot.
Organizations and prominent individuals that have testified in support
A broad range of organizations from progressive nonprofits to state agencies to business groups have testified in support of SB 3202 or its companion bill, including every county planning department.
• AARP Hawaiʻi
• Addison Bulosan, Councilmember, Kauaʻi County Council
• Affordable Housing Connections LLC
• aio Hawaiʻi
• Building Industry Association Hawaiʻi
• Carl Bonham, UHERO Executive Director
• Chamber of Commerce Hawaiʻi
• Church of the Crossroads
• Construction Industry of Maui
• Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement
• County of Hawaiʻi Planning Department
• County of Honolulu Planning Department
• County of Kauaʻi Planning Department
• County of Maui Planning Department
• Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi
• Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice
• Hawaiʻi Gas
• Hawaiʻi Habitat for Humanity Association
• Hawaiʻi Housing Affordability Coalition (HiHAC)
• Hawaiʻi YIMBY
• Hawaiʻi Zoning Atlas
• Hawaiʻi Housing Finance and Development Corporation (HHFDC)
• Holomua Collaborative
• Housing Hawaiʻi’s Future
• HPM Building Supply
• Justin Tyndall, Associate Professor, UHERO
• Land Use Commission
• Kauaʻi Chamber of Commerce
• Mana Up Hawaiʻi
• Maui Chamber of Commerce
• NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Hawaiʻi Chapter
• State of Hawaiʻi Office of Planning and Sustainable Development (OPSD)
• Richard T. Bissen, Jr., Mayor, County of Maui
• Title Guaranty Hawaiʻi
• Tori Richard
What people are saying
Community leaders are speaking up: SB 3202 will create more affordable homes and help keep families in Hawaiʻi.
“Whether it’s families looking for modest sized and priced housing, kupuna seeking to downsize their home within their existing community, or young professionals looking to purchase their first home, HB 1630 would facilitate the creation of more housing
options.”
“The measure also lifts barriers to building accessory dwelling units and is a common-sense, cost-effective approach that will make good use of existing property throughout the state while easing the housing crisis.”
“Not only will it provide needed low-cost housing in already urbanized areas for residents, but it will significantly effectuate the constitutional requirement to protect agricultural lands by removing some of the development pressures on those areas.”
“Providing more housing stock within already existing neighborhoods also allows for residents to remain near relatives and within their existing communities.”
FAQs
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Absolutely not. This bill allows smaller and more affordable options in our neighborhoods: the exact opposite of monster homes.
A monster home is an illegal dwelling that is larger than what the county allows. Nothing in this bill allows or legalizes monster homes. SB 3202 preserves all the existing restrictions on building size, setbacks, on-site parking, height, permeable surface requirements, and more.
That’s why every county planning department has testified in support: this bill won’t allow buildings even one inch larger than the current maximum size. It just allows lots to be smaller and allow up to two ADUs if there’s room within the existing building size restrictions allowed by the county.
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In many neighborhoods it can, but in some it can’t. So SB 3202 contains language protecting county planning departments’ ability to deny permits if there isn’t enough infrastructure capacity.
That’s why every county planning department has testified in support of this bill or its companion: unlike bills that allow these review processes to be bypassed, SB 3202 ensures we can’t build unless there is infrastructure in place to support it.
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Small homes on smaller lots offer families the chance at more affordable housing in our neighborhoods. By requiring families to purchase less land for the same size home, we can knock hundreds of thousands of dollars off the price of a small starter home. Families who would otherwise be priced out of a housing market where the average single-family home is over $1 million will be able to find more affordable homes in our neighborhoods without having to leave Hawaiʻi. And studies on similar reforms around the world have shown that adding these homes can lower the cost of rent, even in expensive cities.
That’s why economic justice and affordable housing groups testified in support of this bill or its companion: these bills make housing in our neighborhoods more affordable for working families.
Of course, small homes on smaller lots are only one piece of the housing puzzle that can help us build adequate housing supply for working families. There’s no silver bullet, and solving our housing crisis will take many reforms.
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One of the things that makes Hawaiʻi special is the ʻāina. Our current minimum lot size restrictions encourage continued urban sprawl.
SB 3202 only applies to urban zoned land so we can build more housing where people already live, instead of continuing to sprawl out into green space.
That’s why the Land Use Commission testified in support: these bills protect open spaces by encouraging infill development where people already live.
Take Action
Tell your legislators you want more affordable options for working families in our neighborhoods.