Bill 18 (2026) CD2 Chapter 32 affordable housing

At a glance

Based on human-uploaded captions that may contain errors; they cover the whole meeting (00:25 to 50:45).

What: changes to the city's Chapter 32 affordable housing program (the rules allowing taller, denser projects with fewer standards), moving from CD1 to a CD2 draft.
Where it stands: amended to the handcarried CD2 and reported out for passage on third reading on 2026-10-20, as is. Councilmember Nishimoto was recorded as a no vote and Tulba had reservations.
Next: third reading. The Planning and Permitting director asked to keep talking about three unresolved points.

The chair said about 224 units are built so far, with a potential of roughly 1,800, and that she held 26 meetings on the bill with neighborhood boards, agencies, developers and the administration. Captions garbled several counts; treat figures as approximate.
Adds B1 and B2 business districts in transit-oriented development (TOD) areas and TOD development plan areas.
Height: 60 feet (or shorter underlying limit) outside the primary urban area; within the primary urban area and TOD areas, 75 feet or the underlying limit, whichever is greater, including Punchbowl and Waikiki special districts.
Floor area ratio in the primary urban area rises from 4 to 5. Unit count uses lot area divided by 120 or 130 depending on distance to a bus stop.
Defines an efficiency unit, adds height setbacks for buildings over 75 feet, and bars mixing old and new Chapter 32 rules on one project.
Parking is encouraged rather than required; some fire-safety exemptions were removed; projects must have professional property management with a publicly posted 24-hour contact; corner-lot refuse loading is clarified. Grants, subsidies, the sunset date and the elevator requirement were not changed.

Bill 18 (2026), CD1 passed second reading 6-2: aye Cordero, Dos Santos-Tam, Okimoto, Tupola, Weyer, Waters; no Kiaʻāina and Nishimoto; Tulba absent. Tupola moved committee report 167(26) and Cordero seconded; Tupola and Tulba filed disclosure of interest statements (CC-22(26), CC-29(26)).
Kiaʻāina said the bill consolidates proposals related to Bill 7 (2019) but now goes beyond that bill's intent by allowing larger developments better handled through the normal land use process. Tupola said the bill balances housing production with neighborhood compatibility, reported work with developers and the Department of Planning and Permitting, and promised more community outreach before it returns to committee. The journal also attributes to Tupola a statement that sustainability plans should be exempt and that she would vote against the bill as written; that conflicts with her motion and aye vote and looks misattributed.
Testimony: Billionaire, Leelynn Brady of Aloha Independent Living Hawaii and Kefalas supported.

Takeuchi Apuna, Planning and Permitting director, thanked the chair but raised three remaining issues: the Punchbowl height exception (view protection), transitional height setbacks only applying above 75 feet (she suggested 60), and extending alternative fire-resistance and fire-escape stair standards from 60 to 75 feet without technical life-safety analysis. The chair said transitional setbacks are still in the bill next to residential zones and offered to talk offline.
In support: Gina Thielen (strong support, citing rising land, construction and financing costs), Martin Win (supports, but asked to remove "lesser of" height language in special districts), and Abe Parker (pass without amendments).
Dylan Armstrong supported the 4 to 5 floor area ratio increase, opposed the transitional height setback and off-street parking requirements for affordable housing. Tupola replied there is no parking requirement, only a push to find parking on city streets.

About 23 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-20 - Housing Homelessness & Parks	23

CD1 passed second reading 6-2 (see above).

2026-10-20 - Housing Homelessness & Parks - CD2 presented; DPP raised three remaining concerns; amended to CD2 and reported out for third reading as is.