In his State of the State address to the Hawaii legislature Monday, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green proposed staying the course to lower housing costs. Photo courtesy Office of the Governor

Gov. Josh Green is proposing to keep certain budget priorities from fiscal years 2027 through 2029 to help Hawaii residents affected by rising costs and disasters, including those still recovering from the 2023 Lahaina wildfire.

In his State of the State address Monday, Green said his proposed budget is meant to help the homeless, seniors and working-class people living paycheck to paycheck.

He said a pause in tax cuts will bring back $1.8 billion for critical services, including $600 million for food security and child care “for those who need it the most.”

In his annual address before the state legislature, Green also praised Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen and the Maui County Council for seeking to improve the affordability of housing on Maui and for helping Lahaina recover from the devastating fire on Aug. 8, 2023.

“I’m incredibly appreciative of the work that Mayor Bissen is doing and all the families on Maui in the way they’ve accelerated the recovery,” Green said. “It is way faster than we’ve seen anywhere else.”

Green noted that more than 500 building permits have been issued. He also said that about 561 of the destroyed homes were owner-occupied, and with people receiving money from the court settlement, more houses will be going up.

“Those houses are going to get built really fast,” he said, while adding that court settlements usually take about five to 10 years.

Green also said he has authorized $1.6 billion in federal emergency money to help Maui County, and the state recently extended support for renters who are wildfire victims.

The governor also committed to providing another 1,200 temporary housing units for Lahaina, and the state will continue its development of a fire mitigation program, including the installation of sensors.

“We can never have another tragedy like the one we had on Maui,” he said.

Green said after three years of overcoming enormous challenges, he’s proud to report Hawaii remains financially strong.

“”Over the past three years, we passed the largest income tax cut in our state’s history,” he said.

“We made record investments in affordable housing.”

Green said when his administration came into office three years ago, too many families were having to make heartbreaking decisions such as choosing between paying rent and buying groceries or between staying in Hawaii or leaving for the U.S. mainland.

“Too many young people didn’t see an economic future for themselves in our state, so we made affordability our top priority,” he said.

He said in his first year, his administration doubled the earned income tax credit and the food tax credit and increased the Child and Dependent Care credits, leaving Hawaii families with $88 million less to pay in taxes.

He said his administration also grew its rainy day fund to $1.5 billion.

Green noted that Hawaii will be receiving $188.8 million as part of a $50 billion national investment to strengthen rural health care in all 50 states.

Green said the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands issued 2,500 leases in 2025 — the most ever awarded in a single year in the 100-year history of the program. He said the number of new leases awarded will grow to more than 7,000 in 2026.

“We know that building these homes alone won’t solve the entire challenge,” Green said.

Green said his administration will support the counties and their mayors in their work to return more short-term rentals to house local families in the coming years.