CIVIL BEAT ARTICLE by Chad Blair

Here’s what’s important to young lawmakers at the Hawaii Legislature and the Honolulu City Council this year:

• Creating an outline of state goals, timeline and funding mechanisms to revitalize the Kapalama area and develop affordable housing units with coordination between state and city agencies, private landowners and residents;
• Amending Hawaii’s tax increment financing law to provide the counties with the power to issue bonds to fund improvements made to specific communities. Bonds will be repaid through the increase in property tax assessments caused by improvements;
• Requiring state departments to offer 75 year leases for affordable housing developments;
• Implementing a tax on real estate investment trusts, with an exemption for affordable housing developments; and
• Increasing the cap on amounts deposited into the Rental Housing Revolving Fund to $100 million.

Read more here.