71% of Hawai'i Residents Say Build More Housing — What the Latest Survey Reveals

71% of Hawai'i Residents Say Build More Housing — What the Latest Survey Reveals

The winter 2025 edition of Hawai'i Perspectives, a scientific survey of more than 900 residents across all four counties, confirms what many already feel: affordable housing is the number one issue facing the islands. But the survey goes further, revealing strong public support for solutions that could reshape how Hawai'i builds and finances housing.

The Top-Line Numbers

The survey, conducted from July 1 through August 10, 2025, by Anthology Research and commissioned by Pacific Resource Partnership, found:

The margin of error for the statewide sample of 907 participants is plus or minus 3.25 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

The Infrastructure Cost Problem

One of the survey's most striking findings involves infrastructure costs. A housing project in Kona on Hawai'i Island saw the average price increase by more than $220,000 per unit because developers had to build new sewers, water lines, roads, and electrical infrastructure — costs that are ultimately passed on to homebuyers.

This helps explain why 53% of residents support having the government fund infrastructure for new housing developments. As Pacific Resource Partnership Executive Director Nathaniel Kinney noted: "Hawai'i needs more than 64,000 units of housing right now, so it's not a question of whether we should build, but how quickly we can act."

Rent-to-Own: The Most Popular Solution

The strongest consensus in the survey — 86% support — was for rent-to-own programs that allow renters to apply a portion of their monthly rent toward a future down payment. This model directly addresses the biggest barrier for many local families: accumulating enough savings for a down payment while paying high rents.

Programs like the H2O (Helping Hawai'i's Ohana) initiative at Innovative Capital Hawai'i are designed around this exact principle — creating structured pathways from renting to ownership.

What This Means for the Market

The survey results suggest strong public appetite for policy changes that could accelerate housing production. For real estate investors and developers, this signals:

• Permitting reform is likely coming — with 58% supporting streamlined processes
• Transit-oriented development will expand — 79% support building near transit stations
• Rent-to-own models have broad appeal — creating opportunities for investors who structure deals around tenant pathways to ownership
• Infrastructure financing reform could lower development costs and improve project feasibility

The Bottom Line

Hawai'i's housing shortage is not a supply-and-demand mystery — it's a policy and execution challenge. The data shows residents are ready for bold action. The question is whether policymakers will match that urgency.

Source: Hawai'i Perspectives Winter 2025 Survey, Pacific Resource Partnership / Anthology Research. Published January 18, 2026 via Big Island Now.