These 3 Major Problems Stress Out Hawai‘i Residents. What Can We Do to Fix Them?

In a survey recently released by The Hawai‘i Association of Realtors, those surveyed selected traffic and two other issues as their main causes of stress.

PHOTO: AARON YOSHINO

What do Hawai‘i residents worry about most? A lack of affordable places to live, those who don’t have a place to call home and the traffic we sit in each day. Those are the findings of a study recently released by the Hawai‘i Association of Realtors about the issues that impact our quality of life in the Islands. Those surveyed chose traffic as the No. 1 issue (27 percent of people polled), with homelessness coming in a close second (22 percent) and affordable housing next (5 percent).

When discussing traffic, nearly half of the people polled supported extending the general excise tax to ensure that rail goes beyond Middle Street. The neighborhood that supported the extension most is made up of people least likely to ever need it: East O‘ahu, where 68 percent of people polled were in favor of the extension.

The general lack of housing overall is a statewide concern, with 95 percent of Kaua‘i residents, 83 percent of Maui residents, 82 percent of Hawai‘i Island residents and 79 percent of O‘ahu residents concurring. Homelessness is a concern on all islands, and is in many cases a direct result of the lack of affordable housing.

What do we do with this information? We’re in the middle of our legislative session, and the Hawai‘i Association of Realtors is supporting amendments that will speed up the process of approving large multifamily affordable housing projects. You can contact your representative to express your concerns and encourage them to support measures to help with these issues as well.

*Survey conducted with 658 Hawai‘i residents in Fall 2016 by Ward Research.