Governor Appoints Housing Committee and Mortgage Rates Rise

Governor Appoints Housing Committee and Mortgage Rates Rise

Highlighted News Stories for August 2023. 

Who Will Be on Governor’s Committee to Fast-Track Housing?

Governor Josh Green has appointed a Build Beyond Barriers Working Group to expedite housing projects. While individuals’ names are not specified, here are entities or positions expected to be represented:

State Agencies:

  • Office of Planning & Sustainable Dev; Mary Alice Evans, acting dir
  • Dept of Business, Economic Dev & Tourism; James Tokioka, director
  • Hawaii Housing Finance Dev Corp.; Dean Minakami, interim exec dir
  • Dept of Land & Natural Resources; Dawn Chang, chair
  • State Historic Preservation Division; Alan Downer, administrator
  • Commission on Water Resource Mgmt; Kaleo Manuel, deputy dir
  • Land Use Commission; Dan Giovanni, chair
  • Dept of Health; Dr. Kenneth Fink, director
  • Dept of Transportation; Edwin Sniffen, director
  • Hawaii Public Housing Authority; Hakim Ouansafi, exec dir
  • Dept of Budget & Finance; Luis Salaveria, director
  • Island Burial Council Representatives (specific names not provided)

Nonstate Entities:

  • Legis. Housing chairs: Rep. Troy Hashimoto & Sen. Stanley Chang
  • Mayor of county where project is located: Various county mayors
  • County permitting & regulatory agency reps (names not provided)
  • County Dept of water supply representatives (names not provided)
  • HECO or Kauai Utility Coop; Shelee M.T. Kimura or David J. Bissell
  • Honua Consulting: Trisha Watson, owner
  • Executive Director of Housing Hawaii’s Future: Sterling Higa
  • University of Hawaii Economic Research Org: Carl Bonham, exec dir
  • Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Hawai‘i: Wayne Tanaka
  • Executive Dir of Land Use Research Foundation: David Arakawa

For more details, refer to the emergency proclamation at 808ne.ws/proc.

Average Long-Term Mortgage Rate Jumps to Highest Level Since 2001.

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate has risen to over 7%, the highest since 2001, causing challenges for homebuyers facing soaring prices and limited supply. Freddie Mac reports the benchmark 30-year home loan increased to 7.23% from 7.09% last week, compared to 5.55% a year ago. This marks the fifth consecutive weekly increase, impacting borrowers’ affordability. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also rose to 6.55% from 6.46% last week. Rising mortgage rates are linked to the increasing 10-year Treasury yield, driven by a robust U.S. economy and concerns about inflation, which could lead to the Federal Reserve maintaining higher interest rates. These rate hikes have contributed to a lack of available homes for sale.

Note: Parts of this post were written using ChatGPT, with stories gathered from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.