Honolulu officials are committing not just effort, but a whole lot of money to create more affordable housing on Oahu over the next few years. Let’s hope it all pays off, with a quickened pace and productive leverage of federal and city funds to maximize the units provided.

On Nov. 1, Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced that the city was committing $37.75 million to buy the Waikiki Vista building along Kapiolani Boulevard in the urban core, planning to convert it to rental housing for low-income residents. It is “the largest and most significant affordable housing acquisition ever made by the City and County of Honolulu,” Blangiardi said, and evidence of Honolulu’s “fundamental commitment” to provide Oahu’s people with affordable housing.

The building, now housing college students, includes 100 dorm-style rooms. The city is still working out how it will be reconfigured — and whom it will house — but it’s clearly a bold step. “We’re going to be looking at every and any opportunity we can for strategic acquisitions like this one,” Blangiardi promised.

The city must be held to that commitment, and act with urgency. Serious consideration should be given to opening this centrally located site to low-income workers, rather than restricting the site to seniors. Positioned as it is near the job centers of Waikiki and urban Honolulu, the building provides a welcome opportunity.

It’s often more politically palatable to create senior housing, but younger workers in Honolulu are commonly priced out of available housing units, except in substandard sites, or forced to share housing with several others to make ends meet. This can be a particular hardship for low-income families, including young couples and single parents, and it discourages young adults who grew up in the islands from pursuing a career here.

Whether rented or owned, Honolulu currently has a shortfall of thousands of units that are affordable for truly low-income households — those earning 60% or less of Honolulu’s area median income (AMI). In Honolulu, that applies to an individual earning $54,900 or less annually, and a household of four with income of $78,400 or less.

Workers earning $36,600 or less are considered “very low income” in Hawaii, and can be forced to spend nearly all their income on housing. A 2019 state-sponsored housing study estimated that Honolulu would have to add nearly 4,000 units between 2020 and 2025 to fill projected need by households with very low incomes.

Money for the Waikiki Vista purchase came from federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, an advantageous windfall. But more conventionally, the city helps subsidize private-sector and nonprofit housing projects via its affordable housing fund, a dedicated stream of 0.5% from annual Oahu property tax revenues.

In this year’s election, Honolulu voters rejected a charter amendment to increase that affordable housing allocation from 0.5% to 1% of property tax collection. However, that doesn’t preclude the City Council from budgeting additional money for worthwhile projects, and given the need, it must do so.

In addition to committing tens of millions of dollars of city funds for affordable housing projects, Honolulu’s Department of Community Services Director Anton Krucky says the city has speeded project turnarounds, down to five years from a previous eight or nine. The city’s Bill 1, which directly subsidizes developers with cash incentives for each affordable unit built, is also attracting interest, with a target of 1,100 units added by May 2024.

To keep up momentum, the city should quickly fill its now-vacant executive director position for the Office of Housing and Homelessness. It’s promising, too, that an executive-level position is being created in the Department of Planning and Permitting to prioritize affordable housing, coordinating projects with the state to maximize productivity.

There will be obstacles, from cost to political pushback — but determined action is required to meet this crisis-level need.