Representative Kirstin Kahaloa knows that local families need to be able to stay and live in Hawaiʻi.

Born on Oʻahu and educated in the Continental U.S., Kirstin worked for a decade abroad before finding a career that allowed her to return to her ancestral home, Hawaiʻi Island. A Hawaiʻi our children can call home has abundant educational and employment opportunities, affordable housing for families, and accessible health care. All of this requires a thoughtful, balanced approach to development that manages our cost of living.

PRIORITIES TO ADDRESS COST OF LIVING

• Expand opportunities for affordable, attainable housing in Kona.
  We need more housing in Hawaiʻi, and especially in Kona. The demand for housing at all levels is far bigger than the supply. We need to build more of the right kinds of housing, and regulate short term vacation rentals to preserve housing inventory for kamaʻāina families.
  
  

• Reexamine our zoning and land use decisions of long ago.
  We must explore today’s best practices of walkable, transit-connected, livable communities. These concepts could inform lower infrastructure costs for affordable housing developments, and reduce the environmental impacts of urban sprawl and vehicle dependence.
  
  

• Deliver on Hawaiʻi’s obligation to native Hawaiians on homestead lands.
  With the high cost of housing, the Department of Hawaiian Home Land’s mission to return kanaka maoli to the land has perhaps never been more important or relevant. Many of the hurdles the department faces are related to the cost of infrastructure. The 2022 Legislature supplied much-needed funding to the Department, and we must hold them accountable and ensure the funds are put to good use.