Empty Homes and the Housing Crisis (Hawaii Together)
A Vacancy Tax Would Not Fix the Problem. The host for this show is Keli'i Akina. The guest is Jensen Ahokovi.
Some state and county lawmakers in Hawai'i have proposed taxing so-called empty homes as a way to address Hawaii\u2019s housing crisis.
However, a new study from the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii found no meaningful relationship between home vacancy rates and high home prices \u2014 in Hawai'i or anywhere else in the U.S. \u2014 which means that the 'empty homes' theory is just another time-wasting distraction from addressing the real cause of Hawaii\u2019s housing shortage, which is too many regulations that hinder new homebuilding.
The Institute\u2019s new policy brief is titled The \u2018empty homes\u2019 theory of Hawaii\u2019s housing crisis,' and was written by Institute staffers Jensen Ahokovi and Mark Coleman.
On today\u2019s episode of 'Hawaii Together,' host Keli'i Akina speaks with Ahokovi about the report \u2014 and why an empty homes tax would be unlikely to lower Hawai'i home prices or increase housing supply.
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