Our Homes: Ending the Housing Crisis

Stanley Chang

A live, weekly, web series exploring the intricacies of and solutions to Hawaii's housing crisis from a global perspective. Hosted by Hawaii State Senator Stanley Chang.

  1. 09/14/2024

    Our Homes - Ending the Housing Crisis: An Empty Homes Tax for Honolulu

    In this episode of Our Homes, Ellen Carson and Keith Webster (advocates for Faith Action for Community Equity, a nonprofit focusing on housing and homelessness solutions) speak about an empty homes tax under consideration by the Honolulu City Council. Modeled after Vancouver, Canada’s tax, Honolulu’s proposal would be levied on an empty home’s assessed value, on a graduated rate with a 3 year phase. Faith Action for Community Equity believes this would disincentivize non-resident buyers and create a funding mechanism to support more housing construction and homeless services.

    55 min

  2. 06/18/2024

    Our Homes - Ending the Housing Crisis: The Great Housing Hijack

    In this episode of Our Homes, Dr. Cameron Murray, Australian economist and author of “The Great Housing Hijack,” speaks about the myths surrounding housing markets in Australia and elsewhere. Murray believes that high housing cost jurisdictions suffer from inequitable distribution of housing, not mere supply shortage. These housing shortages have been observed over the centuries, meaning that regulation alone cannot explain them. An alternative to the free market is required to aid those who cannot access a home. Jurisdictions need to implement a low-price alternative to rent or buy homes, like the Singapore model, which is already available to certain groups in Australia, like military servicemembers. This episode of Our Homes was hosted by Senator Stanley Chang.

    59 min

  3. 04/08/2024

    Our Homes - Ending the Housing Crisis: A New Generation of Public Development in Boston, MA

    In this episode of Our Homes, Kenzie Bok, the Administrator for the Boston Housing Authority (BHA), shares BHA’s plan to end the City’s housing shortage in part by building 3,000 mixed-income Faircloth units. This decision was spurred by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s decision to almost triple the subsidy amount available for Faircloth units. The authority has currently identified two sites, and Bok speaks on the current obstacles and the importance of their mixed-income, mixed-use, and revenue neutral building plans. Bok further speaks on the necessity of government’s role as provider of safe and affordable housing. This episode of Our Homes was hosted by Senator Stanley Chang.

    49 min

  4. 09/07/2023

    Our Homes - Ending the Housing Crisis: How to Build Permanent Supportive Housing for Less

    In this episode of Our Homes, Dan Rinzler, Associate Research Director with the California Housing Partnership, shares his evaluation of Tahanan, a recently constructed permanent supportive housing (PSH) project in San Francisco. Tahanan’s development utilized cost-saving measures in financing, design, and construction, reducing residential costs and development times by roughly 40 percent compared to other PSH projects in San Francisco. Tahanan’s success and departure from common development practices represent an opportunity to reassess PSH requirements that delay and increase costs on this critical need. This episode of Our Homes was hosted by Senator Stanley Chang.

    44 min

  5. 07/14/2023

    Our Homes - Ending the Housing Crisis: How Arizona Unlocked a Large New Source of Funding for Housing the Homeless

    In this episode of Our Homes, Shreya Arakere, Liz Da Costa, and Alex Dayman from Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, Arizona's Medicaid program, discussed how Medicaid waivers are a new funding source for housing the homeless in Arizona. Arizona’s Medicaid will be able to provide six months of transitional housing for individuals moving from insecure environments like homeless shelters and group/foster homes. Arizona’s Medicaid will also offer case management, educational outreach, and other housing services under their Housing and Health Opportunities Waiver (H2O). With nearly 37,000 homeless and at-risk residents, Arizona’s new source of funding for housing the homeless will positively impact their state immensely. This episode of Our Homes was hosted by Senator Stanley Chang.

    56 min

  6. 05/16/2023

    Our Homes - Ending the Housing Crisis: The Big Housing Build in Victoria, Australia

    The Big Housing Build is a social housing plan to build 10,000 new and affordable homes across regional Victoria. Victoria’s population of 6.7 million in March 2023 is forecast to grow to 11.2 million by 2056. The state's exponential population growth coupled with issues of homelessness, the growing social housing waiting list, and rising costs of housing and living, act as the driving forces behind the Big Housing Build. Australian politician Sheena Watt, who serves in the Victorian Legislative Council for Northern Metropolitan Region since 2020, discusses the Big Housing Build in Victoria, Australia. Watt is the first Indigenous Australian woman to represent the Australian Labor Party in the Parliament of Victoria. She is the point person to talk to for the housing build across Victoria. This episode of Our Homes is hosted by Ian Ross.

    58 min
  7. Our Homes - Ending the Housing Crisis: How Seattle Passed Social Housing

    04/12/2023

    Our Homes - Ending the Housing Crisis: How Seattle Passed Social Housing

    Initiative 135 (I-135), is a Seattle initiative that creates a new social housing developer to build, acquire and manage public, affordable housing in the city. Tiffany McCoy and Camille Gix believe that the key strategies that helped pass the initiative were centering the initiative around a positive vision, humanizing higher income renters (teachers/healthcare workers who may need affordable housing), highlighting the beneficial differences between this model compared to others, and using international/national examples for proof of concept. Tiffani McCoy is the advocacy director at Real Change and serves as the co-chair for the House Our Neighbors coalition. McCoy acted as the campaign manager for I-135, overseeing all campaign communications and field efforts from the start of the campaign through the victory. Camille Gix is a graduate student at the University of Washington and policy intern at Real Change. She was also on the steering committee for I-135, helping draft the initiative. This episode of Our Homes is hosted by Ian Ross.

    57 min

  8. 02/22/2023

    Our Homes - Ending the Housing Crisis: The Pandemic’s Effects on Hawaii’s Housing

    Since 2020, Covid-19 affected Hawaii’s housing market. At the beginning of the pandemic, housing prices dropped by an insignificant amount. As the pandemic continued into 2021, 2022, 2023, housing prices began increasing again, following the predicted trajectory of growth. Paul Brewbaker believes that the new wave of working from home plays a role in housing price increase. Paul Brewbaker is the principal of TZ Economics, a Hawaii consultancy doing corporate work, development impact analysis, and litigation support. His background is in research on the Hawaii economy and in country risk and financial risk analytics from 25 years as a commercial bank economist. He discusses the latest data about the Hawaii housing market in the wake of the pandemic. This episode of Our Homes is hosted by Senator Stanley Chang.

    1h 7m
See All (39)

Ratings & Reviews

4.5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

A live, weekly, web series exploring the intricacies of and solutions to Hawaii's housing crisis from a global perspective. Hosted by Hawaii State Senator Stanley Chang.

Information