The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for consideration by the Maui County Council on September 8, 2025.
_____________
Sept. 8, 2025, 9 a.m.
Kalana O Maui Building
To: Maui County Council
Alice Lee, Chair
Yuki Lei Sugimura, Vice Chair
From: Grassrot Institute of Hawaii
Jonathan Helton, Policy Analyst
RE: Bill 122 (2025) — A BILL RELATING TO FACTORY-BUILT HOUSING
Aloha Chair Lee, Vice Chair Sugimura and other members of the Council,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports Bill 122 (2025), which would create a framework for regulating and constructing factory-built one- and two-family dwellings throughout Maui County.
Current County code has no set process for permitting or inspecting manufactured housing, which acts as a deterrent for potential builders.
Because of Maui County’s slow permitting process in general,[1] this measure could provide certainty to anyone seeking to install manufactured housing on Maui, Molokai or Lanai, while still ensuring safety.
To that end, the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies analyzed existing research into manufactured housing and found that the quality of manufactured housing has improved as regulations and market practices have changed.
According to the study: “The share of manufactured homes built in the previous decade deemed inadequate (that is, exhibiting a range of structural inadequacies, such as poorly functioning systems or significant maintenance problems) fell consistently from the 1980s through the first part of the 2000s, differing little from site-built homes after the improvements in the 1990s.”[2]
In other words, allowing prefabricated homes would give Maui residents access to more abundant housing options without jeopardizing health or safety standards.
Furthermore, manufactured housing would not threaten to put Maui’s existing on-site homebuilders and contractors out of business. The state as a whole is suffering from a shortage of qualified construction workers — including carpenters, plumbers and electricians.[3]
This shortage means that Maui County must implement innovative changes to allow more housing to be built. Allowing manufactured housing is a smart move in this direction.
As this bill progresses, Grassroot would welcome further dialogue about how to meet the housing needs of all Maui County residents.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Jonathan Helton
Policy Analyst
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
_____________
[1] Daniela Bond-Smith, Rachel Inafuku and Justin Tyndall, “The Hawaii Housing Factbook 2024,” Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawai‘i, May 20, 2024, p. 9.
[2] Christopher Herbert, Alexander Hermann, Daniel McCue and Chadwick Reed, “A Review of Barriers to Greater Use of Manufactured Housing for Entry-Level Homeownership,” Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies, January 2024, p. 13.
[3] “Hawai‘i Skilled Trades Workforce Analysis,” Hawaii Chamber of Commerce, May 2023.
