Amid housing exodus of locals, this group is leading a movement to get them to stay

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Priced out of paradise.

It’s a turn of phrase that has almost become synonymous with living in Hawaii.

The cost of living — from housing, groceries, gas and more — is causing droves of locals and Native Hawaiians to leave the place they grew up and where their ancestors are from.

While there are lots of advocates who have been working on creating affordable housing for decades, there’s a group that believes the key to solving this crisis lies in Hawaii’s next generation.

The organization is called Housing Hawaii’s Future, and from its name, they are hoping to do just that.

Sterling Higa, the executive director, explained this is more than just an organization — it’s a movement.

Their hope is to find a solution through bolstering civic engagement among Hawaii’s younger generation.

“If we’re going to inherit these decisions and living Hawaii for the next 50, 60 years, then we should be part of the decision making process. It’s decisions by us, not decisions for us — and that’s why the next generation has to be involved,” Higa said.

“Young people have been at the forefront of the movement for social justice. They’ve been at the forefront of the environmental movement. And now, it’s their time to be in the lead of the movement for affordable housing and workforce housing.”

He explained the reason for this big focus on the next generation is largely due to the founders of this movement, Zachary Yamada and Evan Gates. They came up with this idea at a time when the two were back home in the islands — Gates was taking a gap year from college and Yamada had just graduated.

More and more, they were seeing teenagers and people in their early twenties already giving up on the idea of being able to live and own a home in Hawaii.

“A lot of young people our age are living with their parents. They would prefer not to live with their parents, but they can’t afford to leave,” Higa explained.

“And them not being able to afford to leave means they don’t become independent. They’re not able to start a family of their own. They may not be able to move closer to where their jobs are, which means they’re stuck in commutes. And some of that pressure is what leads people to leave because they don’t have the option to start their own independent life here.”

They realized that if young people didn’t start becoming part of the solution, they were just going to watch their friends leave year, after year, after year.

Thus, the two enlisted the help of Higa, who is slightly older than them, to work on educating younger generations and promote partnerships with lawmakers to amplify the need for housing.

Higa said a lot of his work involves teaching young people about civic engagement, prepping people to be active in neighborhood boards, county councils, at the state Legislature, or just in their own communities advocating.

“Many people under the age of 40 aren’t even aware that the neighborhood board system exists on Oahu and these neighborhood board oftentimes, there are two, three, four vacancies,” Higa explained.

“But these roles give them access to city and state officials. It lets them learn about the political process. It lets them figure out what issues are important in their community, and it’s an important first step in the kind of ladder of civic engagement.”

Higa said that the reason why we haven’t really seen much change is because Hawaii hasn’t yet had “the groundswell of young people getting involved and advocating.”

“You have a lot of decision makers who would like to create more radical change, but they can’t do anything radical unless there’s a public voice calling for it,” he said.

That’s why Housing Hawaii’s Future has created the “Stay Movement,” a pledge people can sign to get educated and get involved to ensure the people of Hawaii can keep living in the islands.

“We really want to simplify this vocabulary so that people realize they are already capable of participating in this conversation. Our goal with this movement is to get people from the sidelines into the game,” he said.

Higa emphasized that affordable housing isn’t just a want, it “should be considered a human right, and we should ensure that everyone has access to it.”

“Home ownership opportunities, workforce rentals, affordable rentals, transitional housing, emergency housing for the homeless, you need to have abundant housing across the spectrum.”

So the question now becomes: How can the state create this housing?

Higa said a good place to start is transforming underutilized sites on public land into housing. This was seen in a housing project on Alder Street in which Honolulu’s juvenile detention center was converted to also house 180 affordable rental units.

He added that it also involves the need for the government to cut red tape, reducing the regulatory burden or barriers to building.

And while he acknowledges that is easier said than done, Higa is hopeful we can work together as a community and government to finding a solution to Hawaii’s housing crisis — sooner rather than later.

“As I look at my own children, I hope that they don’t have to make, that choice to leave — that if they want to, they can afford to stay here.”

To learn more about Housing Hawaii’s Future or to join the “Stay Movement,” click here.

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