Randy Ching

Hawaii has the highest cost of living in the U.S. When adjusted for the cost of living, our minimum wage of $10.10 an hour is one of the lowest in the country. Our cost of housing is the highest in the country. It is impossible to survive on $21,000 a year in Hawaii. For the past two years, advocates of a living wage ($17.63 an hour, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism) have been seeking a $17 an hour minimum wage so that people can survive here.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Hawaii needs many more affordable rentals ($1,000 a month or less). The homeless population grows every year. Forty-eight percent, nearly half, of Oahu’s residents are ALICE — assets limited, income constrained, employed. Basically, ALICE residents are one disaster away from being out on the street. So what to do? I believe that one of the main drivers of our housing crisis is the high price of land. To build affordable rentals, land costs must be minimized.

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