April 9, 2025
Hawai‘i Wants to Help Community Groups Keep Foreclosed Homes in Local Hands
A legislative proposal aims to prevent certain foreclosed homes from being lost to residential investors and second homebuyers by giving community groups more time to place competitive bids.
SB 332 will allow tenants, community land trusts and certain other groups up to 45 days after a public sale to match or beat the best bid for homes in non-judicial foreclosures.
The proposal is a type of "community opportunity to purchase" policy, an anti-displacement tool that is gaining traction around the country as groups look to preserve homes in gentrifying areas. If Hawai‘i's bill passes, it'll join at least 13 other jurisdictions that have similar policies.
"In many places, states and cities jump in to support this kind of community acquisition, because they know that by doing so, they're creating a pool of housing that's permanently affordable and that's community controlled," said Rep. Tina Nakada Grandinetti, who spearheaded the local proposal and introduced the House version of the bill, HB 467.
Read the full story here:
https://overstoryhawaii.org/hawaii-wants-to-help-community-groups-keep-foreclosed-homes-in-local-hands/
March 27, 2025
Kuhio Park Terrace renovation project’s developer replaced
Residents had contacted state legislators like Rep. Tina Grandinetti, (D,Kahala-Kaimuki-Kapahulu), who led the introduction of House Bill 1325 to protect renters from becoming displaced.
HB 1325 would require developers working on federally funded affordable housing projects under the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to support tenants financially from being displaced or evicted.
Grandinetti realized the need for more tenant protection when working with families who were evicted during the redevelopment of Kapiolani Village Apartments in 2023.
"We need a standard in place to make sure their rights are protected and their needs are met," Grandinetti said.
"We say we're doing this to create housing for local people, but if we're displacing local people in the process, then we have to think twice about how we're going about the project."
READ MORE: https://www.staradvertiser.com/2025/03/27/hawaii-news/kpt-developer-replaced-amid-renovation/
March 27, 2025
The Rise of Community Land Trusts in Hawai‘i
A growing network of community land trusts is working to provide permanently affordable homes for Hawai‘i’s people – and redefine the narrative on housing in paradise to emphasize collective wellbeing.
There are six active community land trusts in Hawai‘i. State Rep. Tina Nakada Grandinetti says with Hawai‘i experiencing so much displacement, many residents are hungry for a sense of control over what happens to their homes and neighborhoods.
This legislative session, she introduced two bills that aim to encourage the expansion of community land trusts and prevent the loss of foreclosed homes to second homebuyers and residential investors.
HB 833 would create a five-year pilot program under the Hawai‘i Housing Finance and Development Corporation to provide community land trusts with a line of credit to help them provide affordable homes. And HB 467 would prohibit sellers of foreclosed homes from bundling properties at a public sale and allow community land trusts 45 days to match or beat the best public sale bid to buy the property. HB 467 is dead for this session, but its Senate Companion, SB 332, is still moving forward.
Read more: https://nextcity.org/features/the-rise-of-community-land-trusts-in-hawaii
March 13, 2025
Hawaiʻi could set a standard for affordable housing developers to support displaced tenants
"We as a state are working really hard to facilitate new housing production, build more affordable units, and we are facilitating a lot of change in our neighborhoods, but we haven't implemented a clear process for what happens when people are displaced," said Rep. Tina Grandinetti, who introduced the measure.
"We have a bunch more public housing redevelopments coming up. We have 201H projects in the pipeline. So the bill is really about trying to create a baseline standard so that tenants don't have to self advocate for the most basic protections,"Grandinetti said.
"Hopefully, they organize and fight for more, but this will at least create a process that developers have to follow."
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March 13, 2025
Hawaiʻi Lawmakers Are Pushing For Car-Free Fun Zones — But Not On Oʻahu
To reduce carbon emissions, encourage sustainable transportation and promote community health, counties could be required to pilot a "Summer Streets" program, closing select roads to traffic and repurposing them for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Groups like the Hawaiʻi Bicycling League, Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute and Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice support the idea in Hawaiʻi. But the groups have a question: Why does the bill exclude Honolulu?
Transportation Committee Vice Chair Tina Grandinetti introduced a resolution encouraging Honolulu's Department of Transportation Services to implement its own Summer Streets program in urban Honolulu and other areas that want it.
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