UHERO
Housing
The UHERO Housing Policy Group provides rigorous analyses to inform debates regarding housing in Hawaiʻi, with a focus on the high housing cost burdens experienced by the State’s residents. This problem is multiscalar in its origins and thus requires a bundle of analyses ranging from longitudinal portraits of the State’s housing market, to estimates of the impact of housing costs on local populations, to objective evaluations of proposed policy solutions.
America’s housing affordability challenge: How big and how broad?
We’ve heard lots about the unaffordability of housing. How widespread is it and how extreme? To assess this, we need to do more than some…
New UHERO interview with Civil Beat
UHERO’s Carl Bonham, Steven Bond-Smith, and Justin Tyndall met with Civil Beat to discuss the latest research on housing, cost of living, and the economic…
The Hawai‘i Housing Factbook 2026
Research support by Chisato Tarui, Edith Prager, and Rafael Munoz Hawai‘i residents face the highest housing costs in the nation. The ongoing housing crisis threatens…
The Housing Market Impacts of a New Honolulu Condo
Housing policy discussions in Hawaiʻi often focus on how we can make newly built homes affordable. Yet new construction represents only a small share of…
The HCRC Annual Report of Activities 2025
Thanks to the generous support of the Hawaii Community Reinvestment Corporation (HCRC), I began my appointment as the HCRC Professor in Affordable Housing Economics, Policy,…
The Downmarket Impact of New Multifamily Housing: Evidence from a Honolulu Condo Tower
We test whether new condominium construction generates vacancies in a lo-cal housing market through induced moves. Using detailed address-history mi-crodata, we track households who moved…
The Hawaii Housing Factbook 2025
Hawai‘i remains in a severe housing crisis. High prices and mortgage rates have made homeownership unaffordable for most residents. Housing production remains slow, with county…
An Economic Analysis of the Proposal to Phase Out Transient Vacation Rentals in Maui County Apartment Districts
This report examines the Maui County proposal to phase out transient vacation rentals (TVRs) in Apartment districts, including removing long-standing exceptions for pre-1989 properties widely…
Construction Defect Litigation, Housing Affordability, and Homeownership in Hawai‘i
Hawai‘i faces a severe housing shortage, driven by high costs and regulatory barriers that hinder new development. One emerging factor is the rise of construction…