Hawaii
University of Hawaii Budget Request Faces Backlash From Senators
Senators and University of Hawaii leaders clashed over funding for student housing during a budget hearing Wednesday, even as both groups recognized an urgent need to address a years-long facilities problem.
Although the UH board of regents requested $120 million to renovate and repair student housing at UH Manoa, the governor’s proposed budget did not include those funds for the upcoming fiscal year. So the university is turning to the Legislature, which is holding hearings before it convenes on Jan. 17.
Currently, housing at the university’s flagship campus consists of over 20 residential buildings, many built in the 1960s and ’70s, housing nearly 3,500 students.
UH President David Lassner, who plans to retire at the end of this year, emphasized that student housing was one of the university’s top priorities. But senators criticized and questioned the timing of UH’s funding request.
Senate Higher Education Committee Chair Donna Mercado Kim pointed to what she called the continued neglect of Hale Noelani, a university apartment complex that was built in 1978 and stopped housing students in 2017 due to structural and safety concerns.
“That’s very troubling,” Kim said, adding that she feels UH has not prioritized student needs in recent years.
She and Senate Ways and Means Committee Chair Donovan Dela Cruz — frequent critics of UH leadership — challenged the university’s insistence that it had limited options if the state failed to fund the student housing repairs.
The university has a $25 million “rainy day fund” that could go toward housing maintenance and repairs, but that money is to support all facilities, said Jan Gouveia, UH vice president for administration. She said repairs to the Hale Noelani apartment complex would cost $80 million alone. The building previously housed 530 students, making up 13% of UH’s housing supply.
Kim and Dela Cruz repeatedly argued that the university neglected its housing supply in the past, leading to a backlog of repairs and an accumulation of major maintenance problems.
Of the ten residence halls at UH Manoa, six have not received renovations since they were first constructed, according to a November board of regents meeting. The most recent set of renovations took place in 2012 at Gateway House, a residence hall constructed in 1963.
After the hearing, vice president for budget and finance Kalbert Young blamed the buildup of problems on limited investment and funding for university housing maintenance, compounded with a lack of attention to UH’s housing program. He called the vacant Hale Noelani complex the “poster project.”
“Even though they’re open, they are showing their age,” Young said about the remaining housing complexes.
Young said UH did not request or receive any funding for student housing last year, adding that he is unsure why UH Manoa did not put in a request to the board of regents.
When pressed why the university didn’t address the closure of Hale Noelani back in 2014, Lassner said he was unaware of the problem until it was recently brought to his attention. While maintaining housing may not have been a priority for the university in the past, Lassner said, it is now.
“We’re moving forward,” Lassner said. “If you want to go back and blame me, that’s fine.”
The senators also insisted that UH could find the funding for repairs on its own. Kim pointed to the university’s decision to fund the expansion of seating at Ching Field amid delays in building a new Aloha Stadium after the closure of the old one, which previously hosted UH football games.
“The field was an expediency?” Kim asked. “What about the students?”
If the university found the money to cover the athletic complex’s expansion, Dela Cruz added, it should also be capable of finding a way to cover the costs of the housing repairs that should have been brought to the Legislature’s attention years ago.
While UH did not receive state funding for the $30 million expansion of the athletic complex, it got $50 million in federal Covid-19 relief funds that offset the costs to the university’s budget.
Kim also criticized the university’s recent focus on pursuing new housing projects while failing to maintain its current buildings.
The Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs opened at the start of the 2023-24 school year, and a facility housing graduate students is set to open in fall 2025. In total, the two projects will add roughly 900 beds to UH’s housing stock.
UH did not receive state funding for either housing development, said spokesman Dan Meisenzahl. As public private partnerships, the two projects have come at no cost to the public, Meisenzahl added.
Young said the university can’t afford to lose any more housing units to disrepair and the university will continue to seek funds to address the entirety of its repair and maintenance needs.
“Even with all of that, I still don’t think it will meet the full demand,” Young said.
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The demolition of Aloha Stadium on Oahu took a big step forward Thursday with the first section of seating pulled down from the steel structure.
Half of the elevated deck-level seating on the stadium’s makai side was severed and toppled backward as part of demolition work that began in February.
The other half of the upper makai-side seating is slated to come down Tuesday, followed by similar sections on the mauka side and both end zones, though the concrete foundations for lower-level end-zone seating are being preserved for a new, smaller stadium to rise on the same site.
A private partnership, Aloha Halawa District Partners, led by local developer Stanford Carr, is replacing the 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium, which opened in 1975 and was shuttered in 2020, with a new stadium featuring up to 31,000 seats.
AHDP is using $350 million of state funding toward the cost of the new stadium, which could be $475 million or more, and will operate and maintain the facility on state land for 30 years with a land lease.
The development team also is to redevelop much of the 98-acre stadium property dominated by parking lots with a new mixed-use community that includes at least 4,100 residences, two hotels, an office tower, retail, entertainment attractions and open spaces expected to be delivered in phases over 25 years and costing close to or more than $5 billion or $6 billion.
Earlier parts of stadium demolition work led by Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. included removing four covered multistory spiral walkways leading to the upper level from the ground, and concourse bridges.
Demolishing the stadium is projected to be done by August, according to Carr.
Building the new facility is expected to be finished in 2029.
Hawaii
This Airbnb Tiny Home Sits on a Lava Field in Hawaii With Unbeatable Night Sky Views—and It’s a Guest Favorite
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/tal-airbnb-one-off-tout-1465b3bde0864117b43761b0d1dd346e.jpg?ssl=1 "This Airbnb Tiny Home Sits on a Lava Field in Hawaii With Unbeatable Night Sky Views—and It’s a Guest Favorite")
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The team behind a popular Hawaii-based home renovation show is now facing legal troubles after airing content that shouldn’t have been released, according to the state.
Hawaii’s Attorney General is now involved after HGTV’s ‘Renovation Aloha’ showed uncensored images of apparent ancient skeletal remains that were discovered at a Hilo property.
In a now-deleted clip on social media, Kamohai and Tristyn Kalama, along with the production team, discovered a cave beneath a Hilo property where they found the remains deep inside.
Video documented their shock when it was found, with the hosts saying, “There’s bones back here. I got to get out of here. Are you fricken serious? I’m serious dude. Is that a skull?”
Tristyn was seen standing further back, saying “This is terrifying. I’m at my stopping point” before leaving.
Hawaii News Now is not showing the bones, but confirmed with HGTV the episode was filmed in December 2025.
Video didn’t show them touching or moving the remains, and HGTV said authorities were notified after the discovery, the property was not developed, and the site was later blessed.
At the time, police said no crime was committed, and the state AG obtained a TRO to prevent the broadcast of the images in accordance with state law.
However this week, uncensored video of the bones was posted online by the Kalamas and HGTV, and included in the episode, triggering a quick rebuke from the community.
“We don’t kaula’i iwi. We do not lay our bones out in the sun to expose him in this manner,” former Oahu Island Burial Council Chair Kumu Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu said.
She also said the release of the images was “extremely disappointing,” saying the damage was already done.
“It is irrelevant that bones were not moved. It is irrelevant that they were not disturbed, per se, because somebody didn’t touch them — but you went into their space and that space becomes kapu space once they have transitioned over to po. And when you do that, we honor that. We don’t disturb them,” Wong-Kalu added.
The AG said they took immediate legal action to prevent the unlawful broadcast of images, pointing to a TRO issued prior to the episode’s release. They also said, “We are aware that the segment aired notwithstanding the court’s order, and we take this matter very seriously. The Department will pursue additional action as necessary.”
Court Documents revealed the Kalamas and producers of the show are now facing four counts for allegedly breaking Iwi Kupuna protection rules.
“If that were our grandparent, would we want them, after they have physically transitioned to po, would we want to share our family in this manner? I don’t think so,” Wong-Kalu added.
HGTV said in a statement, “We take the concerns raised by the community very seriously and are committed to ensuring our programming is respectful and appropriate. We apologize to anyone who found any part of the episode offensive, that was not HGTV’s intention.”
They also confirmed the original episode was removed, and re-edited without the bones included.
Through our communication with the HGTV spokesperson, Hawaii News Now offered the Kalamas a chance to respond directly, but they did not. They did however take to Instagram to address the episode, saying they followed the protocols they knew, and never intended to build there. They stressed their respect for Hawaiian culture and practices.
The investigation remains active.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
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