Niskanen Center researchers note that local governments often try to circumvent state laws aimed at providing more housing
In an attempt to address Hawaii’s longstanding housing crisis, Hawaii lawmakers enacted a bill this year, SB3202, that requires the state’s four counties to allow at least two ADUs on single-family lots.
It will be a challenge, however, to make sure the counties follow the spirit of the law, according to three housing analysts from the Niskanen Center, based in Washington, D.C.
The bill was strongly supported by Gov. Josh Green, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, both the Senate and House housing chairs, the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii and many other pro-housing groups and individuals.
But in an article published Tuesday, the Niskanen analysts write that SB3202 has a critical weakness: “It gives local governments broad discretion to impose development standards that can make ADUs infeasible.”
George Ashford, Andrew Justus and Alex Armlovich write that such a flaw “is not uncommon; most states making their first effort to allow ADUs leave exploitable loopholes, which result in underwhelming initial outcomes.”
They note that California enacted a similar law in 2016 and it, too, needed a lot of follow-up attention to make it work as intended. In particular, they write, as California’s local governments “imposed new standards to limit ADU development, the state created new exemptions from those standards.”
The result, they write, “has been an explosion in ADU production” in the Golden State, with ADU permits issued in 2023 totaling almost 28,000 — about a fifth of all housing permits issued — compared to only about 1,000 in 2016.
In their article, “What Hawaii can learn from California’s long and bumpy road to ADU stardom,” the authors recommend that Hawaii lawmakers create standards for ADU sizes and in-lot placement; mandate that the counties offer pre-approved ADU permits; and waive owner-occupancy requirements, parking mandates for ADUs built near transit operations and numerous fees.
They conclude: “If Hawaii’s legislators hope to achieve positive outcomes from their work in the 2024 legislative session, they should follow California’s example by shielding ADUs from burdensome local restrictions. … California’s experience indicates that doing so will pay off in new, affordable housing, and lots of it.”