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LONG TERM RENTAL REGISTRY
Laying the Groundwork: Missing Housing Data
Why good data matters, why long-term rental housing is invisible to policymakers, and why independent self-managing rental housing providers should have a seat at the table when decisions are made.
1. Hawaii's Missing Housing Data Problem
Hawaii makes major housing policy decisions without knowing enough about its long-term rental housing stock.
We know statistical information about homeownership. We know a great deal about short-term rentals: where they are legal, and how many are operating. We know shockingly little about long-term rentals. Policymakers regularly estimate how many rental units exist based on census data (which becomes outdated very quickly), and who owns them. Small independent housing providers own a significant share of Hawaii’s rental housing, yet they are largely invisible in public data.
When policymakers lack accurate information, they often rely on assumptions. Bad assumptions lead to bad policy.
2. Why Small Rental Housing Providers Keep Getting Overlooked
Across our islands, tens of thousands of rental homes are owned by ordinary people. They are retirees who depend on rental income to supplement Social Security. They are families who inherited a home from their parents. They are military families who rented out their home after receiving new orders. They are local residents who worked for years to purchase an investment property as part of their retirement plan.
These are not anonymous corporations. They are our neighbors.
Yet when housing policy is discussed, these housing providers are often grouped together under a single label, as though every owner has the same resources, the same motivations, and the same business model. Nothing could be further from the truth.
3. Building Better Housing Policy Starts With Better Information
Over the past several months, we have explored what Hawaii does not know about its long term rental housing inventory and why the small, independent housing providers behind many of those homes are too often missing from policy discussions. This month, we bring those two conversations together.
If Hawaii wants to preserve long term rental housing and develop policies that actually work, we need a better way to understand and measure the market. A thoughtfully designed long term rental registry could provide that foundation, but how it is designed matters. In the final article of our three-part series, we look at what a registry could accomplish, what Hawaii can learn from programs elsewhere, and why rental housing providers should help shape the conversation from the beginning.