Due to Hawaii’s high-cost of living, high cost of construction and restrictive zoning, working families often have difficulty affording rental housing.
Bill 7 offers substantial incentives for developers to upgrade and modernize existing parcels with higher density buildings along with a myriad of other benefits and incentives. The law is designed to create residential developments offering affordable rentals that meet local demand and generate the best use of appropriately zoned parcels throughout Honolulu.
Bill 7 accommodates unit mixes that are very flexible from studios (500 SF) to 4b/2b (1,300 SF). Rents can be based on the HUD 2019 Annual Median Income (AMI) for Honolulu as follows; $2,260 for studios, $2,411 for 1b, $2,848 for 2b, $3,243 for 3b and $3,646 for 4b. Since in effect these rents are far above market, actual market rents will be determinant of rents achieved for Bill 7 projects.
‘Aina has had substantive discussions with the Bank of Hawaii and American Savings Bank in Honolulu around available financing for Bill 7 projects. Strong indications of interest have been expressed by both institutions at 80% financing at 3.0-3.5% interest rate with 30 year amortization. Terms of up to 10 years, interest only for up to 3 years, recourse with burn off features and partial releases upon completion of construction.