So many of the big stories brought to Hawaii throughout 2024 were well known to residents, like the next chapter of a book they’re already reading.

Maui continued its slow trek toward recovery from the wildfires of the previous year. On Oahu, rail construction by the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) slowly crept along its own path toward downtown Honolulu, a journey made even more painful when, last week, a mammoth claim from its chief contractor was filed in court.

There was movement on numerous other ongoing developments, but none matched the impact of addressing Hawaii’s affordable housing shortage, and its related crisis, homelessness.

It is on this front that Hawaii leaders will need stay laser-focused to make gains. The annual federal Point-in-Time count report shows the Maui disaster drove up homelessness by 87%.

As it should, housing factored into other policy moves here, including a statewide crackdown on short-term rentals. It became quickly clear that transient vacation units were taking up significant rental capacity on Maui when the August 2023 fire displaced so many families now still needing homes.

Lawmakers this year empowered counties to curb short-term rentals, and that process now has expanded beyond Oahu’s regulatory scheme.

And housing shortages became a social and political crisis on the national level. The rising cost of living, housing included, became a key issue, possibly the main issue, in the presidential campaign of 2024.

That election revealed movement as well. Although Hawaii voters still favored the Democratic hopeful, Vice President Kamala Harris, the electorate followed a national shift toward the GOP — a boost that brought a return to power for the now president-elect, Donald Trump.

And the anti-incumbent impulse across the U.S. also propelled a changing of the guard at Hawaii’s state Capitol, a new House speaker to take over the helm when the Legislature convenes next month.

This churn in leadership happened despite lawmakers’ efforts to respond to inflation with state tax cuts, which take effect with the new year.

A few of the other trend lines of the past 12 months:

>> Gun violence is one issue that registered on Day 1 of 2024, when a police pursuit of Sydney Tafokitau, 44, crisscrossed Oahu and ended in a shootout that wounded two police officers. Tafokitau was wanted for three separate shootings.

It was the start of a year marked by concern over the proliferation of guns and myriad killings, including the murder of three women at an Aug. 31 family gathering in Waianae. One of very few positive notes was a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand — for now — a ruling upholding local laws governing guns, based in part on Hawaii’s long history of gun-safety regulations.

>> Tourism tensions included clashes over vacation-rental rulemaking and worries about the delayed recovery of the Japanese tourism market. But perhaps the marquee issue was the merger of Hawaiian and Alaska airlines. Worries over how changes in routes each airline manages might affect Hawaii’s draw as a destination should prompt careful monitoring by the industry and decision-makers.

>> The Red Hill fuel leak controversy passed a milestone in March when the military finished removing 104 million gallons of stored fuel.

>> In other long-simmering challenges, HART did receive its first federal payment in seven years, with a $125 million allotment in February toward rail construction. The bad news? Disputes sparked between HART officials and its board, and the new $324 million lawsuit from contractor Hitachi Rail alleging mismanagement and delays.

All of this signals just how much oversight — on everything — is still needed the moment New Year’s fireworks fall silent.