Build Behind Barriers Working Group Meeting #2 Report Back: More faux pas, even less answers
by Wayne Tanaka, Chapter Director
Takeaways:
Agenda items referencing the devastating Maui wildfires and the lack of timely details created confusion, concern, and conflict, especially for the survivors of the Lāhainā tragedy.
More root causes of the housing crisis emerged, pointing to the lack of competitive government wages to retain essential staff, and hiring process backlogs by the state Department of Human Resources Development – yet the one proposal that was discussed sought only to suspend collective bargaining laws protecting government workers’ rights.
Public testimony raised additional questions, and a recognition by another Working Group member that the proclamation was not a solution to the housing crisis.
Numerous foundational questions concerning the Working Group’s governance, ethical issues, and scope of responsibilities remain unanswered.
The second Build Beyond (Behind?) Barriers Working Group meeting began with Governor Josh Green and Lead Housing Officer Nani Medeiros essentially admitting, in an indirect and somewhat gas-lighty way, that they had messed up.
Despite the Governor previously reassuring the survivors of the Lāhainā wildfire that no long-term rebuilding plans would take place without their close involvement, no less than five housing- and housing-related projects on his emergency proclamation’s Working Group’s agenda were proposed “in response to an increased need for housing on Maui due to the wildfires,” and to “accommodate very low-income tenants displaced by fires caused by Hurricane Dora’s high winds.”
Community confusion, concerns, and questions without answers
Community members were understandably confused, and concerned, when the agenda was published the week prior to the meeting. However, further details regarding these agenda items – what the projects would actually entail, what kind of legal exemptions they would be seeking, and why such exemptions were necessary or helpful (the latter still remaining largely unclear) – would not be provided to the Working Group until Friday afternoon, and not posted for public review until later that evening.
Links to online documents in the “meeting packet” containing project details were also broken, and a packet with corrected links was not distributed or posted for public review until Saturday afternoon – just a little over 36 hours before public testimony was due.
Remarkably, despite the incredibly limited time frame, hundreds of testimonies were still submitted by the Monday deadline. The vast majority concerned four Department of Hawaiian Homelands (“DHHL”) projects seeking Lead Housing Officer Nani Medeiros’s approval for exemptions from environmental review and iwi kupuna protections, among others.
Many testifiers pointed out the contradiction between the Governor’s promises of community involvement in rebuilding plans, and the fact that the public had less than two days to review and comment on the details of these ostensibly wildfire-related development projects.
Wildfire survivors in particular had little opportunity to weigh in, as many were still trying to process indescribable trauma, did not have reliable access to internet service, and many were still sifting through rubble, looking for family members and any remnants of their recent former lives.
Prominent Lāhainā community leaders also outright objected to proposals that would ignore major water supply concerns, and eliminate any protections for iwi kūpuna and historical cultural sites. They noted that the DHHL projects had actually been in the works for quite some time, and were already very far along in permitting and approval processes – raising the question of why they were even being proposed for consideration under the emergency proclamation.
As Lāhainā lineal descendant and Archie Kalepa noted, “it is vital that we move through these projects in a pono way . . . we have to work through issues, such as iwi kūpuna and water, as a community, even if it takes longer and is complicated.”
A vast number of testimonies also raised the question of whether the projects were actually even for wildfire relief, as had been presented in the agenda. Many, many individuals asked whether and how wildfire survivors would be given priority in obtaining housing, whether housing units would be actually affordable, whether the Governor would reinstate water management protections that could rein in waste and inappropriate uses of water needed for housing and food production, and whether he would reinstate the Sunshine Law or otherwise ensure transparency in all decisionmaking under his emergency proclamation. At least one testifier questioned whether the DHHL projects were simply being used as a “brown shield” for the proclamation.
These questions would go unanswered.
Because of the tremendous concerns raised by testifiers – or, because of the critical questions they were asking – the DHHL projects were withdrawn from the agenda, leaving no opportunity for discussion at the meeting.
Governor Green and Lead Housing Officer Medeiros would eventually begin the meeting by speaking at length to their commitment to let the Lāhainā community lead in any long-term rebuilding efforts, and that there would be no long-term planning without the Lāhainā community. In doing so, they offered no explanation as to why the agenda specifically described long-term development projects as part of the state’s wildfire response.
Real problems identified, but not addressed: noncompetitive wages and hiring backlogs
With the DHHL projects withdrawn, only two proposed projects were left. One of them – ostensibly to override an architectural permitting requirement for a Hawai‘i Public Housing Authority building renovation in Keaʻau – was also pulled, after Hawaiʻi county had simply approved the permit.
Thus only one project was actually discussed during the Working Group meeting. This would involve the expenditure of up to $17M in taxpayer dollars by the Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority (“HPHA”), which would be exempted from competitive bidding under the state procurement code.
It would also involve the hiring of agency staff without collective bargaining recruitment processes and worker protections – something that Hawaiʻi Government Employees Association representatives pointed out was already provided for under the law. Nonetheless, HPHA maintained that this would be helpful to temporarily fill long-vacant positions.
Even the HPHA representative, however, acknowledged the proposal was still a “bandaid” – and that hiring backlogs with the Department of Human Resources Development and a lack of competitive government wages were the real causes of the housing “emergency,” with respect to HPHA’s challenges.
Lead Housing Officer Medeiros did not indicate whether she would approve the HPHA proposal, or if she would ask for any conditions or safeguards to ensure transparency and accountability in lieu of the exempted state laws.
Verbal testimony banned, then allowed
With significant time left in the meeting – only one out of six projects had been up for substantive discussion – the Lead Housing Officer decided to lift the planned prohibition on in-person testimony. Those who had attended the meeting in person were thus allowed the opportunity to testify, but not before the Governor had already left the room.
Testimonies were heartfelt and filled with pain, frustration, and anger at the government’s response and actions surrounding the Lāhainā wildfires, and longstanding treatment of the Native Hawaiian community. Questions were raised about the motivations behind the proclamation, about the root causes of and government responses to the need for affordable housing, and the Working Group members’ ability to understand and address the needs of the Native Hawaiian community, and community members truly in need of housing relief.
One testifier questioned why the Working Group was even meeting, when a legal challenge to its and Lead Housing Officer Medeiros’ authority had been filed the previous day.
Notably, a Working Group member representing the nonprofit Housing Hawaiʻi’s Future took to the public testimony podium, and recognized that the proclamation and its Working Group were not necessary or even a real solution to the housing crisis - which he attributed to certain county zoning laws (ironically ignoring the fact that zoning laws can already be suspended for 201H “affordable” housing projects).
As Medeiros eventually made clear, testimony was only for the Working Group to receive information, and that the public was not entitled to answers from the Working Group or its members regarding the questions that were raised.
Still no answers to key questions
I had hoped that for a second meeting, we would be given time to ask questions and gain clarity around the Working Group’s scope of responsibilities, and foundational issues concerning governance, procedures, and other basic matters. (This was the initial purported purpose of the first meeting, the majority of which was taken up by “introductions”). I became more optimistic when I was told before the meeting that there likely “will be sufficient time for questions,” and was asked to email my questions beforehand.
Of the questions I submitted: Will we be given financial information to evaluate project affordability? Will we be able to assess food security impacts, or ensure new developments are designed to address growing climate threats? How will we assess and deal with potential conflicts of interest, when Working Group members or their immediate relatives may be in the business of consulting for landowners or developers who may benefit from the proclamation?
All of these questions and many, many more should be asked and answered before the Working Group begins its substantive work.
However, once again, no time would be made to address these questions, which remain unanswered.
Broad Coalition Challenges Governor Green’s Controversial Emergency Proclamation on Housing
Last week, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi alongside a broad coalition of community advocates for affordable housing, iwi kupuna (Native Hawaiian burials), environmental justice, and good governance, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit challenging Governor Josh Green’s Emergency Proclamation on Housing, an abuse of emergency powers that benefits real estate developers at the expense of the public interest. The plaintiffs also include Nā ‘Ohana o Lele Housing Committee, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i, E Ola Kākou Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i Advocates for Truly Affordable Housing, and Kū‘ikeokalani Kamakea-‘Ōhelo. Read more here.
The Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi remains committed to defending our home from an unaffordable-housing proclamation that violates our constitution, eschews public transparency, dismisses the legal rights and interests of Native Hawaiians and the public, and pursues a housing-for-all policy that stands to only widen our existing wealth gap, and exacerbate our housing crisis.
Please stand with us, by taking this pledge if you have not yet, and reaching out if you have an organization or group of friends who would like to learn more about the dangers facing our islands, our communities, and our democracy.
The next meeting of the Build Beyond Barriers Working Group Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 26. Stay tuned for more!