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.~80eSL83a6s 3/ ~ 3- B-O~: 4: 50PA~: iBOU5283463 County of Hawaii, County Council Page z Affordable Housing Requirements for Indashial Developments adjacent sites, must earn one affordable housing credit for every four full-time equivalent jobs created." Discussion: As with other counties in the state, the County of Hawaii has an insufficient supply of rentals and for sale units for all income groups. Maui County just recently passed a workforce housing policy to try and address this issue, Kauai County is also in the ~ process of adopting a housing policy, and the State Legislature is also in the process of r finding ways to increase the supply of affordable housing. LURF participated in the Joint Legislative Housing and Homeless Task Force, the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu's Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, and Affordable Housing Task Force created by Senate Concurrent Resolution t35 in Zoo4. A common finding in each of these efforts was that there was a need to provide more housing in all income categories, and that one of the major problems was an overall lack of supply. The problem of an overall lack of supply cannot be solved by County exactions and inclusionary zoning requirements. The crux of the problem is not the new jobs that are being generated but, rather, the lack of affordable workforce housing available. These are two related, but distinct, problems which should not be linked together. The connection between housing and income should be understood by policy makers. Employers generally look for an educated work force and affordability in housing when locating or expanding businesses. From a public policy standpoint, if we want to attract employers here to provide higher paying jobs for our residences both now in the future, we need to insure an adequate supply of housing. We need both new employment opportunities and affordable workforce housing. Rather than placing the affordable housing requirement on investors who are bringing new jobs to the market, the County might consider what could or should be done to increase the supply of affordable workforce housing. Increasing the supply of housing would create ~ housing opportunities to those who secure the new jobs. However, as we have seen in our State's past, housing exactions and inclusionary zoning does not create more affordable housing. Rather, exactions add to the cost of a new home because what is sold at abelow-market price is subsidized by a higher market price home in the same development. We caution the Council to carefully consider how best to balance government's intervention in the market system. Placing too many controls on the housing market may result in slowing the production and availability of new workforce housing units. While local government does not have an ability to influence income or interest rates, there are options; however, these options are usually limited to one of the following: i. GoaernmentApprovais--(Zoning/Permitting.) Government can either require units be built as a condition of the approvals or create incentives to stimulate the market for development of housing units;