Empty Homes Tax Burdens Wrong Team
By Kasandra Shriver
Executive Director, Hawaii Rental Housing Providers Alliance
Published, Honolulu Star Advertiser, July 19, 2026.
Every proposal intended to address Hawaiʻi's housing shortage should be judged by one simple standard: Does it make it easier to provide long-term housing, or more difficult? Unfortunately, the proposed amendment to add an Empty Homes Tax to the City Charter will make it more difficult. The proposal would require over 110,000 property owners, many of whom are already providing essential long-term rental housing, to navigate unknown reporting requirements, certifications, exemptions and administrative hurdles simply to demonstrate that their homes are occupied. This creates a compliance regime that places the burden on long-term rental housing providers to continually prove they're not the problem.
As Executive Director of the Hawaii Rental Housing Providers Alliance, I spend my days talking with independent, self-managing rental housing providers, the Mom & Pop landlords, across our state. They are not institutional investors or multinational corporations. They are retirees who depend on rental income to supplement Social Security. They are families who inherited a home. They are working professionals who outgrew their condominium and decided to offer it for rent on the long-term rental market. These folks are our neighbors. Together, they provide tens of thousands of homes for local Honolulu residents.[1]
Good housing policy should remove barriers, not create new ones. Every new form, certification, deadline, and reporting requirement takes time. For a large corporation, or a professional property manager, that’s just another business expense. For the Mom & Pop housing provider managing one or two properties while working a full-time job or caring for a loved one, it can become one more reason to sell, leave a unit vacant while figuring out the rules, or simply decide that providing rental housing is no longer worth the risk.
We should also be honest about what this proposal asks voters to approve. The Charter amendment establishes the concept of an Empty Homes Tax but leaves the most important questions unanswered. Key definitions, exemptions, administrative procedures, and enforcement mechanisms would all be determined later by the City Council. That asks voters to endorse a punitive tax policy before they know exactly how it will work, who it will affect and which residential properties would be subject to the tax - a classic case of putting the cart before the horse.
If our shared goal is to increase long-term housing, there are more effective places to focus our attention. We should be making it easier to renovate aging rental units, bring vacant homes back into service, convert underused space into housing, and support homeowners willing to rent to local residents. Those are the kinds of policies that expand housing opportunities without creating unintended consequences for the local families that are already helping to meet our community's housing needs.
The housing conversation in Hawaiʻi has become increasingly divided, with property owners on one side and renters on the other. It shouldn’t be that way because we need each other. Long-term rental housing is an integral and essential segment of our housing ecosystem. We all benefit when more homes are available, when neighborhoods remain vibrant, and when housing policies are practical, predictable, and effective.
If we truly want more homes available for local residents, we should pursue policies that incentivize and support long-term housing. Long-term housing providers should never have to prove they are not the problem simply because they chose to be part of the solution.
[1] UHERO Hawaii Housing Factbook 2026 provides that there are over 149,000 rentals (non-owner occupied homes) in Honolulu county (40.2% of the total Honolulu housing stock). Tyndall, Justin, et al. The Hawai‘i Housing Factbook 2026. May 2026. uhero.hawaii.edu, https://uhero.hawaii.edu/the-hawaii-housing-factbook-2026/.
