A social justice group is proposing that Hawaii capitalize on the concept of "ohana houses" to help alleviate the state’s shortage of affordable housing — but much needs to be done in order for that to happen.

The Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice released a report Thursday highlighting the ways in which small units created within existing homes or built on single-family lots can expand the state’s affordable-housing stock without severely affecting communities or tapping into government funding.

Victor Geminiani, executive director of the nonprofit group that advocates for fair treatment of the state’s low-income residents, said there will never be enough state or federal money to create more than 19,000 rental units for low-income households in the next two years to meet market demand, so officials and policymakers need to start getting creative.

In 1982 Hawaii’s counties passed ordinances allowing for construction of ohana units on residentially zoned land. Geminiani said changes to those ordinances are needed to increase the number of housing units.

"There is no answer out there except ingenuity and finding a way to harness the energy and economics of private landowners," Geminiani said.

According to the Hawaii Appleseed Center, 25 percent of households in Hawaii are made up of a single person, and 81 percent of homeless people are single individuals — two populations that could greatly benefit from an increase in availability of smaller, more affordable but still functional units known as accessory dwelling units.

ADUs, as they’re called, include a kitchen, bathroom and living space and can be created by partitioning, remodeling or adding to single-family homes to make separate, functional spaces or by building small, free-standing units on the homeowner’s land.

To begin promoting ADUs as a viable option for reducing the state’s acute shortage of affordable housing, Geminiani said, the counties would have to ease up on building and land use policies. Ohana dwellings, for example, can be occupied only by people who are related to the residents of the main house by blood, marriage or adoption.

Currently, a 7,500-square-foot lot can have up to two attached units, and a 10,000-square-foot lot can have two detached units, Geminiani said. Building requirements that could be relaxed include allowing secondary units to be detached from the main dwelling and removing the two-parking-space requirement for ADUs, according to the Hawaii Appleseed Center’s report. And the counties could limit the density of ADUs in a neighborhood to prevent overcrowding.

City Councilman Ron Menor said he’s been collaborating with the center to come up with affordable-housing solutions and supports ADUs as an option, as long as the city lays the proper groundwork.

"In order to effectively tackle this (affordable housing) issue, it’s going to take a multifaceted approach, and in that regard I believe that accessory dwelling units could be one tool in helping the city to develop more affordable housing in the future," he said.

The center is working with Menor’s office to draft a resolution asking city administrators and advocates to study what would need to be addressed in order to promote ADUs while still maintaining the integrity and characteristics of individual communities.

"There are a lot of issues that would have to be addressed by the city before the city could implement a policy to encourage development of more of these units," Menor said.