HONOLULU — A new nonprofit, Housing Hawaii's Future, started by young Hawaii residents, focuses on developing affordable workforce housing for their peers.  

“Our goal at Housing Hawaii's Future is to educate students and young professionals about the workforce housing issue and equip them with the skills and knowledge necessary for effective civic engagement,” Sterling Higa, a University of Hawaii at Manoa alum, who co-founded the nonprofit, told Spectrum News. 

He said they hope the nonprofit will help hard-working locals find quality housing, allowing them to afford to stay in Hawaii. Housing Hawaii’s Future will achieve its goals by working on policy research, outreach and education, and leadership development.  

Higa told UH News that he plans to reach out to the university’s 10 campuses to recruit students to get involved with workforce housing and become community leaders. 

For decades, people in Hawaii have been concerned about “brain drain” — when Hawaii’s keiki grow up and move to the mainland for education and work opportunities. In 2018, 67,293 Hawaii residents moved to the mainland, while 54,074 mainlanders moved to the state, causing a loss in population that accelerated during the pandemic, according to the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawaii. 

Home prices have also been reaching record highs in Hawaii during the pandemic as more mainlanders invest in property. 

Higa said the idea for the nonprofit came from Zachary Yamada, an ‘Iolani School and University of Notre Dame graduate, and Evan Gates, a Kamehameha Kapālama graduate, who is now a sophomore at Harvard College. Gates and Yamada approached Higa in July 2021 to assist with board formation, fundraising and strategic planning.

They also worked with Katie Chang, who works for the Center for Tomorrow's Leaders, a nonprofit that nurtures young leaders, and is from Hawaii. Chang helped incubate the project in its initial phase, while Talitha Liu, who joined in September 2021 and grew up in Hawaii, assisted with strategic planning. 

The nonprofit was officially incorporated in January of this year after completing its initial planning and fundraising. To learn more, check out Housing Hawaii’s Future’s website and Instagram page. 

Michelle Broder Van Dyke covers the Hawaiian Islands for Spectrum News Hawaii.