Dec 16, 2024
HONOLULU (KHON2) -- Governor Josh Green's biennium budget is headed to the legislature and will be presented Monday with an emphasis on the cost of living for Hawaii residents. Get Hawaii's latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You "Our emphasis is delivering for our people, which is, we've already set into motion the tax breaks so that people who are living paycheck to paycheck get a lot of tax relief. We go from the 2nd highest to the 4th lowest tax state over the course of these 6 years. So that's key," Governor Green said. The state recently released its quality of life dashboard which found that while over 80% of respondents polled were happy with their lives, Hawaii residents are most stressed about the economy, money, and housing costs. Gov. Green on Trump win: ʻWe’re gonna be fineʻ "Affordability, housing," Governor Green said. "We have to build a lot of housing over the course of these many years that I'm given the opportunity to serve because that's the biggest driver for affordability. So you've seen us launch housing projects in Kapolei. You saw a DHHL project launched, 2 or 3 days ago. We're doing all those projects so that we can turn the corner for our people." He also wants to create innovative projects like housing for teachers. The budget will have to manage the payout of funds in the Lahaina wildfire settlement. "We are meeting our budget requirements, which means giving a balanced budget, and we're also paying our commitments, which is the recovery of Maui and all of these housing needs. So those are the priorities. There also has to be some extra resources for fire protection." Part of Governor Green's agenda has been adding Kauhale residences for homeless communities to provide housing security. Find more Hawaii, Oahu, Maui and Kauai news here "We're at 16 full villages launched. We're gonna move to 20, in the new year and then 30 by the end of this 4-year term with us. We'll be able to get housing. That will be over 1,800 units or opportunities for people who have struggled. So you've got that category of individuals struggling so they can get housing, just have a roof over their head, decreases their suffering and their cost, and then that large middle, which is the working class, which needs actual traditional housing. So that's why we're building condos and some single-family houses. It can't happen fast enough, which is why we've stayed under the emergency rules, and they're working because they cut a lot of the red tape while protecting the environment. That's our approach."
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