Good evening, Hawaii. Here are the main stories we've been following today:
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Today's Big Stories
1. Mortgage delinquencies spiked after wildfires
Mortgage delinquencies in Lahaina and surrounding areas spiked in the aftermath of last year’s Maui wildfires, far surpassing the highest levels reached during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a preliminary review of loan-level data by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization.
As UHERO data scientist and research economist Daniela Bond-Smith noted, many Lahaina homeowners still have mortgages on properties that were damaged or destroyed by the fires.
“As of the 2020 Census, almost three-quarters (74%; 1309 out of 1773) of Lahaina homeowners did not own their home free and clear,” Bond-Smith wrote in a report posted to the UHERO blog. “Even with various housing assistance programs in place, additional costs for temporary shelter and daily expenses are mounting for displaced West Maui residents, and it is no surprise that many of them struggle to make regular mortgage payments.”
Analyzing proprietary data for the 96761 zip code compiled by the mortgage and real estate analytics company Black Knight, UHERO found that 296 mortgages were delinquent sometime between August and Nov. 2023. Only 17% of these delinquencies had been carried over from the month prior to the Aug. 8, 2023 fires.
Kauhale — tiny home communities that are meant to be deeply affordable and have a heavy focus on community building — have emerged as the centerpiece of Gov. Josh Green’s push to reduce homelessness in the state.
Green’s office had previously set a target of building 12 kauhale in three years. The goal is now to build 12 this year alone.
Doing so will not be cheap. The main inspiration for the kahaule model comes from two scrappy communities that operate without state assistance — a self-governed homeless village in Waianae that formed a nonprofit to purchase its own land and a tiny home community in Waimanalo operated by a private landowner.
Neither of those communities has paid security guards or staff members.
For a state-operated kauhale that provides 24/7 security and wraparound social services, the daily cost of housing people could run up to $120 a day, the governor’s homelessness coordinator said in an interview last month.
Similar community-focused homeless villages on the mainland have shown a high retention rate and more success at keeping people off the streets than traditional homeless shelters or even Housing First programs that place homeless people in apartments and then try to provide the support they need to stay there.
But spending between $25,000 and $47,000 a year to house someone in a single room without indoor plumbing could be a hard sell for taxpayers. The costs also raise serious questions about the ability to scale the kauhale model in a way that would have a real impact on the number of people living on the streets.
Which is why the weekly meetings at Ho‘okahi are so important.
If residents at the kauhale can begin to take on leadership roles and help with the upkeep and care of the facility — perhaps even providing their own security in a few years — it will make the community sustainable in the long run and help prove that the model works.
“The hope is that within three years they will be able to really manage their own community, just like any other neighborhood would,” said Heather Lusk, director of the Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center, the organization chosen to run the Ho‘okahi kauhale.
3. Tokuda takes aim at ‘zombie’ guns
A new bill co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, seeks to close a loophole in firearms disposal regulation that allows disposal companies to make a profit selling recycled gun parts on the secondary market.
Tokuda joined the bill’s author, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., fellow Congressional members and gun-control advocates in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday for a news conference introducing the measure.
“Maxwell and I have both been absolutely horrified and alarmed by the growing influence of the private gun-disposal companies and their role in fueling what is a secondary arms market in our country,” Tokuda said. “We are literally seeing guns intended to be destroyed instead are being recycled and sold for profit. They’re making profit by endangering the lives of everyday Americans, our citizens. These are untraceable pieces (sold) as parts of kits. They’re being given out, sold, put together and used without even the need for a simple background check. This is absolutely ridiculous. This is insane.”
As Frost explained, guns that are retired, seized or bought back by law-enforcement agencies are routinely sent to gun-disposal companies to be destroyed. However, for the firearms to be considered legally destroyed, only one piece, like the receiver or frame, needs to be crushed or otherwise destroyed. Some companies, like industry leader Gun Busters, then take the remaining functional parts and sell them as part of build-it-yourself kits used to make untraceable “ghost” guns.
Under the Destroy Zombie Guns Act, gun-disposal companies would be required to destroy the entire firearm, not just a single piece.
4. City finalizes agreement to maintain Pearl City Historic Trail
The City and County of Honolulu is partnering with the nonprofit Hui O Hoohonua to rejuvenate and maintain the Pearl Harbor Historic Trail, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced on Wednesday.
Blangiardi said the agreement grows out of existing partnerships between the city, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and the local community and responds to concerns raised at the mayor’s 2023 town hall tour.
“This is a shining example of how the city, our military, and local nonprofit partners can tackle big challenges and move ahead together,” Blangiardi said. “We recognized that Hui O Hoohonua wanted to do something transformative for this area and we knew we had to take action. I’m beyond proud of Cat Taschner, the director of the Department of Land Management, for spearheading an innovative solution and transforming roadblocks into a creative pathway forward.”
Blangiardi said the agreement could serve as a blueprint for future similar initiatives around the island.
The Hui Alaloa project will focus on generating community involvement, planting edible and native plants, improving safety for walking and biking and integrating Hawaiian place names, according to a release issued on Wednesday.
5. Lawmakers unveil $1.2 trillion spending bill ahead of shutdown deadline
Lawmakers introduced a $1.2 trillion spending package Thursday that sets the stage for avoiding a partial government shutdown for several key federal agencies this weekend and allows Congress, nearly six months into the budget year, to complete its work in funding the government through September.
Democrats were largely able to swat back scores of policy mandates and some of the steeper budget cuts that House Republicans were seeking to impose on nondefense programs, though House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., highlighted some policy wins, including a nearly 24% increase in detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country.
This year's spending bills were divided into two packages. The first one cleared Congress two weeks ago, just hours before a shutdown deadline for the agencies funded through the bills.
Now Congress is focused on the second, larger package, which includes about $886 billion for the Defense Department, a more than 3% increase from last year's levels. The 1,012-page bill also funds the departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor, and others.
"Congress must now race to pass this package before government funding runs out this Friday," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Your Notes for Tomorrow
Friday, March 22
- Government funding deadline
- World Water Day
- Shakira releases her first album in seven years, "Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran"
- U.S. Supreme Court meets in private conference to discuss cases and vote on petitions for review.
- Congress breaks for District Work Period (aka State Work Period).
- State Employment and Unemployment, Feb
- NASA Administrator Nelson previews upcoming Boeing Starliner crewed flight test mission to ISS.
- William Shatner and Captain Kirk's birthdays
In Case You Missed It
Former Iolani guard JJ Mandaquit, middle, sat behind the Raiders' bench during warmups for the Iolani Prep Classic quarterfinals in December. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Hawaii native, 4-star prospect JJ Mandaquit gains another national opportunity
JJ Mandaquit’s basketball reputation continues to grow and his career options have expanded by the week.
Following a productive junior season in Utah, Mandaquit on Tuesday was named one of 31 members of the high school class of 2025 to be invited to the USA Men’s Junior National Team minicamp at the NCAA Final Four in Phoenix from April 4 to 7.
Mandaquit, one of the highest-profile basketball prospects to ever emerge from Hawaii, burst onto the national scene last summer as a member of Team USA’s Under-16 squad at the 2023 FIBA Championships in Mexico. He backed it up this winter at Utah Prep by being named the Offensive Player of the Year by the academy’s league, the Grind Session.