UHERO: Rising rents keeping housing voucher program from helping more Hawaii families

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A new UHERO report shows a federal housing voucher program designed to help renters facing financial hardship is dealing with its own challenges.

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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A new UHERO report shows a federal housing voucher program designed to help renters facing financial hardship is dealing with its own challenges.

About 7% of renters in Hawaii rely on Housing Choice Vouchers, commonly known as Section 8. But that covers only about 20% of the households that qualify.

Even though taxpayers have paid 70% more into the program over the past two decades, only 20% more families are being served. Instead of expanding the program, the increased funding is largely being consumed by skyrocketing rents.

The problem is that tenants’ wages have failed to keep pace with those rising housing costs.

Under the Housing Choice Voucher program, a tenant finds an eligible rental unit and pays 30% of their income toward rent and utilities. The government covers the remainder of the fair market rent.

UHERO researchers analyzed U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development data from 2003 to 2024 and found the program effectively promotes upward economic mobility.

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“It reaches Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders and also mixed-race population the most. And it does provide a safety net for disabled and elderly households and those with children,” said economist JoonYup Park, lead author of the UHERO report. “It’s a good program to have these low-income households sort of be in a secure housing environment until they stand on their own.”

About half of the participants who exited the program in 2023 and 2024 had doubled their income compared to when they first enrolled.

Adding to the strain, voucher holders are now roughly 9% poorer on average, and rental turnover has slowed significantly, leaving applicants stranded on waitlists for years.

“Voucher population is aging, meaning that, you know, less and less people are earning wage income,” Park said. “They’re only relying on their fixed pension income, which is not gonna increase or change over time.”

The report notes that building more inventory and providing job training to boost wages could help alleviate the bottleneck.

However, convincing private landlords to participate remains an uphill battle.

“They have a choice between renting to a Section 8 voucher holder, versus a family that doesn’t need Section 8, they’re more likely going to rent to that family. So the competition in the marketplace is difficult for Section 8 voucher holders,” said Craig Watase, CEO of Mark Development Inc., which builds affordable housing and uses government tax credits to fund their projects. They’re required to accept vouchers.

“What you can charge for market place rents does not support the cost of construction, and so nobody builds rentals,” he added.

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Read the full UHERO report here.