Hawaii Island Plans Economy to Keep Families Home

Hawaii Island is tackling an impossible choice: leave home or struggle to survive.

Right now, a single adult needs about $62,000 a year just to meet basic expenses on Hawaii Island. A family with two kids needs $141,000, with childcare alone costing over $22,000 annually. Meanwhile, the county needs nearly 19,000 additional homes by 2027.

Harvey Stone, Executive Director of the Kohala Coast Community Fund, is calling for something different. Instead of treating jobs, housing, childcare, and transportation as separate problems, he wants one unified strategy focused on a simple goal: helping local families earn enough to actually stay.

The island already pays a steep price for its workforce gaps. Healthcare facilities fly in traveling nurses and temporary doctors from the mainland. During emergencies, they sometimes even fly phlebotomists and medical assistants from Oahu, adding airfare and lodging to basic medical costs.

Hotels face similar challenges. One Kohala Coast resort posted a job order in July seeking 18 temporary housekeepers from overseas. These temporary workers from Southeast Asia, South America, and elsewhere fill essential positions that locals can't afford to take.

Stone's solution centers on four key moves. First, concentrate housing and childcare investments around major employers like hospitals and resorts. Second, require businesses receiving tax breaks to create living-wage jobs and train local workers.

Third, use federal Opportunity Zones to direct private investment toward locally owned businesses, healthcare, food production, and clean energy with clear expectations for community benefit. Fourth, create a joint council to track real progress, not just people trained but families actually staying.

The Ripple Effect

This approach could transform Hawaii's entire economic model. By aligning existing programs around one shared outcome, the island can move beyond simply refilling positions to deliberately creating opportunity.

Major employers would help develop workforce housing near job sites and provide childcare during actual shift hours. Government would fast-track permits and infrastructure. Philanthropy would test new models while businesses invest directly in their communities.

The strategy measures success differently too. Instead of counting jobs filled, it tracks living-wage jobs created, workers promoted, housing added near employment centers, and the declining number of expensive temporary workers imported from elsewhere.

Other communities facing similar affordability crises could adapt this model. When workers can actually afford the jobs they're trained for, everyone benefits: families stay together, employers reduce recruitment costs, and communities grow stronger.

The vision is straightforward: make Hawaii Island a place where opportunity is deliberately created, not just a place where people struggle to stay.