Too many families in our state are struggling to make ends meet. Despite working multiple jobs, more are living paycheck to paycheck than before the pandemic.

Some 44% of all families in our state are ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) families barely getting by — and 63% of all Hawaiian families fall into this category.

This has to change.

Housing costs in Hawaii are among the most expensive in the nation.

Our state is such a desirable destination, and such a profitable investment for many, that people from around the world have purchased property to hold as investments or rent as short-term rentals to visitors — making on average four times what they would if the property was simply rented to a local family.

Right now, 52% of all short-term rentals in Hawaii are owned by non-state residents, and 27% of short-term rental owners own 20 or more units.

Our housing crisis affects not only low-income families who may qualify for subsidized public housing, but also middle-class residents who earn too much to qualify for help, but too little to afford to buy or rent in the current housing market.

Local families are being squeezed out of the housing market as 30-year mortgage rates hover around 7% — and median home prices remain way too high for many.

The process of building homes has become so complicated and costly in Hawaii over the last three decades — fraught with unnecessary bureaucracy, impossible permitting processes and prohibitive zoning rules — that we needed immediate action.

I signed the Emergency Proclamation Relating to Housing on July 17, which formed a committee of leading housing experts — and empowered them to cut through red tape to approve new housing projects more quickly and easily.

We immediately approved 10,800 new units of low-income housing for struggling families, and now have turned our attention to approve affordable housing projects in urban Honolulu and along the growing rail.

In October, I listened to environmental leaders and issued an updated Proclamation Relating to Affordable Housing, allowing us to build more affordable housing while protecting our precious natural and cultural resources, and preserving the unique character of Hawaii.

Since then, we have begun to reform the housing bureaucracy — and have approved or accelerated multiple new projects that will bring thousands of homes to teachers, nurses, firefighters and working families across our state.

Our supplemental budget for fiscal year 2025 places a huge emphasis on infrastructure and housing, with requests totaling $373 million — and this remains our administration’s top statewide priority.

But building alone won’t solve our housing crisis; we need to find new ways to make buying or renting a home more affordable in Hawaii.

We have to take further action to return thousands of short-term rentals to the local housing market.

A challenge of this magnitude requires multiple solutions — there is no silver bullet.

Greater enforcement of laws regulating the short-term rental market, tighter restrictions and tax changes, emergency measures — all of these can and should be brought to bear to bring sanity to the local long-term housing market for the residents of our state.

I am calling on my colleagues in the Legislature to help us by implementing new policies and reforms that will return housing units to the long-term rental market.

This will increase supply and bring down prices in a local market artificially and unfairly inflated by the global demand from visitors to our state.

I will sign into law any bill the Legislature sends me that will help move short-term rentals and vacant investment properties owned by non-residents into our local housing market — to increase supply and bring down prices for our families.

My team has crafted a landmark piece of legislation which will provide tax amnesty to any owner of a short-term rental who chooses to sell it to help us with our housing crisis.

A sale of this kind — to an “owner-occupier” local family, or to someone who turns the home into a long-term rental for a local family — will be exempted from capital gains tax, conveyance tax and general excise tax.

This “House Hawaii’s Ohana” plan would start this fall and last 24 months. During this tax amnesty period, I will personally encourage short-term rental owners from around the world to sell their properties back to Hawaii families.

The cost of living in Hawaii is simply too high — especially the cost of buying or renting a home.

There are still too many local families who are moving to the mainland seeking more affordable housing and a lower cost of living.

We must continue to find additional ways to reduce the cost of housing, food and health care, and make Hawaii more affordable for our people.

Josh Green is the governor of the state of Hawaii. This is abridged from his State of the State speech on Monday.