Hawaii
Service members occupy nearly 14% of Oahu rentals, Pentagon says – West Hawaii Today
A new Pentagon report on military housing in Hawaii found that nearly 14% of residential rentals on Oahu are occupied by service members and their families.
The annual defense spending bill passed by Congress contained provisions requiring the secretary of defense to conduct a review of the military’s housing needs and their effects on the local housing market and to provide a report to the House Committee on Armed Services.
The Pentagon’s response was a short, eight-page report. Its executive summary succinctly declares that the report, which cost $76,000, “responds to these provisions.”
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda (D- Hawaii), who sits on the Armed Services Committee and authored the provisions requesting the report, was underwhelmed.
“This uninspired report from the Department of Defense confirms what we all knew: that the military has a major impact on our housing supply and the availability of housing that our kama‘aina and families can afford,” she said in a news release Friday. “If the military is going to be a real partner to Hawai‘i and a good neighbor in our communities, then it’s high time to step up, get creative, and deliver real solutions and investments towards the biggest challenge affecting our people.”
There are roughly 48,500 active-duty service members and reservists stationed in Hawaii. While many of Hawaii’s political and business leaders have touted their presence and spending as a boost to the local economy, their influence on the housing market has at times been a subject of fierce debate.
Military housing allowances in some cases give service members and their families an advantage in looking for housing, which some have charged contribute to high rents as local families struggle with rising costs of living.
In 2011, the RAND Corp. prepared a report for the Pentagon on the impact of military spending on Hawaii’s economy and found that while most military housing in Hawaii comprises privatized on-base units, roughly half of active-duty members live off base and typically rent their housing.
The Pentagon’s latest report says that 60% of service members stationed on Oahu today reside on military installations. The report cites 2023 American Community Survey estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau that found that of the 105,868 occupied, private rental units on Oahu, the military estimates that 14,700 are occupied by active-duty service members.
It also found that 2,150 service members own homes on the island.
The report says the Defense Department acknowledges that the size of the active-duty military component of Oahu’s private rental market — 13.86% — “is not negligible,” but also adds “it is difficult to calculate the comprehensive impact on housing supply and rental prices, without accounting for other, potentially confounding factors.” Those factors include the economic incentives of short-term rentals or “the many intangible benefits of military families living in the community, (i.e., all the ramifications of having two largely separated communities).”
According to a cost-benefit analysis in the report, it would cost the military $10.8 billion to build the 13,614 government-owned housing units needed to house 100% of service members in Hawaii on a military installation, not including infrastructure such as roads and electricity to support those homes.
Additionally, the military would have to increase maintenance costs by $170 million annually and utility costs by $90 million, without adjusting for inflation.
Alternatively, the report estimates that if the Defense Department were to turn to privatized military housing for troops currently renting off base, it would require approximately $3.6 billion in additional government equity under the minimum government equity requirements for privatized housing.
In a one-sentence conclusion, the report states the department is committed to working with the state and congressional defense committees to ensure service members and military families have access “to livable communities that provide healthy, functional, and reliable housing now and in the future.”
Not enough, Tokuda said.
“When I requested this report, I expected that the Department would do so with fidelity and come to the table with tangible ideas for these shared challenges,” she said. “This report failed to do that. We must hold the Department accountable to the shared responsibility they have to address our housing crisis and deliver real solutions for our people.”
Military spending and construction has continued to grow in Hawaii as the Pentagon shifts its attention to the Pacific, considered to now be the military’s top priority theater of operations amid tensions with China.
U.S. Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii), who sits on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, said in a statement that the data in the report “clearly heightens the importance” of efforts over the years by Hawaii’s congressional delegation to ensure more military housing on base and fewer service members in the local housing rental market.
But Case also highlighted a report finding that one challenge facing both active-duty service members and nonmilitary residents seeking rental housing on Oahu is that “many private landlords prefer to offer their homes as short-term vacation rentals, thereby decreasing the supply of rental units available to the community.”
“I believe that the continued allowance of widespread short-term vacation rentals and continued inability to fully target illegal vacation rentals, significantly reducing the available supply of private rental units for local residents, is far more of a factor in high housing prices than current servicemember participation in our rental market,” he said.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – If you grew up in Hawaii, a visit to your local Crackseed shop is likely a core childhood memory.
Let’s go holoholo to one of the oldest shops in Honolulu, Kay’s Crackseed.
Any time Lanette Mahelona of Kaneohe is in Manoa, a stop at Kay’s Crackseed is a must!
“I stop by here, and I always grab two pounds of this seedless creamy ume because it’s hard to find on our end of the island, Kaneohe,” said Mahelona.
Kay’s Crackseed sits in a four-hundred-square-foot shop at Manoa Marketplace.
The original owner, Kay, opened the shop in 1978 and ran it for 18 years.
Mei Chang now runs the shop. Her family took it over in 1996. They’ve been selling an assortment of crack seed and products, which Mei says is a healthy snack in the eyes of the Chinese.
“Yeah, so like the ginger, the Chinese always say it’s Chinese medicine, so they help your motion sickness, the stomach, and even the kumquat,” said Chang. “It’s like honey lime ball, if you catch a cold, sore throat, they help a lot.”
Customers are encouraged to sample the different treats.
Now working in a crack seed shop isn’t anything new for Chang.
She said these kinds of shops are in common in Taiwan that her grandparents used to sell different kinds of li hing mui.
Chang lived right above her grandparents’ shop and was in the second grade when she started helping them with the business.
“Every day when I finish school first thing open a jar,” said Chang. “I really like the football seed, so every day I eat a football seed for my snack.”
And talk about a full circle moment, her daughter would also help around the Manoa shop.
Through Kay’s Crackseed, Chang hopes to carry on traditional recipes she learned from her grandparents.
“Crack seed for us is not only the snack, but it’s like childhood memory, yeah, the happiness, so we try to keep doing the tradition. So, all the juice we make here is from our grandpa and grandma’s recipe,” said Chang. “So, a special yeah, secret sauce, so we have some customers that live far away, the other side of the island, drive so far to come here to get the li hing one. The wet li hing mui, the rock salt palm, is really popular.”
“The li hing mui ones are not as sweet, sweet as other places, and it’s soft,” said Crystal Kaluna of Kauai.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Kolekole Pass is officially allowed to be used as an evacuation route in the event of an emergency on West Oahu.
U.S. military and civilian officials signed an updated official memorandum of understanding Wednesday, opening Kolekole Pass for emergency use.
The first document was signed just prior to July 29, 2025, when Hawaii faced a tsunami warning, and the pass was opened for West Oahu residents to evacuate.
Nearly 500 vehicles made their way through the pass that day as many evacuated the Leeward Coast, officials said.
Maj. Gen. James Batholomees, U.S. Army Commander, Hawaii, was joined by his counterparts from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and the state Department of Transportation officers for Wednesday’s signing.
Batholomees said he took command the day before the tsunami warning.
“The next day, the first order that I had the blessing of giving was in conjunction with the Navy opening the pass during the tsunami,” he said.
Kupuna from the Leeward Coast also attended the signing, saying they were happy for a much-needed secondary route in the event that Farrington Highway is shut down.
Leeward Coast resident William Aila recalled when Farrington Highway was closed for 11 days due to Hurricane Iwa in 1982.
“We need an opportunity to bring in first aid, to bring in food, and to bring in other emergency supplies,” said Aila.
Officials say they are committed to conducting a mass evacuation rehearsal using Kolekole Pass every year.
Ed Sniffen, director of the state Department of Transportation, said it’s the key to a successful activation to use the route.
“The road is safe,” said Sniffen. “When we rode through this, and we did this twice with large operations, the road is safe.”
He added, “That being said, there are improvements that we still want to make.”
HDOT continues to work with the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy on upgrading the roadway, which may total $20 million in improvements.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
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