rent apartment honolulu

>>daryl: coming up next oninsights on pbs hawaii. will our children ever be ableto afford to live in hawai'i? >>daryl: aloha and welcome.i'm daryl huff from hawaii news now.for insights on pbs hawaii. hawai'i consistently ranksamong the most expensive places to live in the countrybut our median salaries barely above the national average.what is the chance we can turn things around to make hawai'iaffordable for our future generations? tonight, willour children ever be able to

afford to live in hawai'i?join our conversation tonight by calling 973-1000, if youlive on oahu, or 800-238-4847 if you live on a neighborisland. you can also visitpbshawaii.org on our smart phone, tablet or computer tojoin the live discussion or find us on twitter at pbshawai'i. insights is also livestreamed at pbshawaii.org. now to, our panel.sumner la croix is an economic professor and fellowfor the economic research

organization at theuniversity of hawai'i. also known as uh-ero.jack legal is the current president of the honoluluboard of realtors, he is the owner of legal realty inkapolei. carrie larger is the directorof career and post-hight school counseling andguidance department at kamehameha schools.eric gill is the financial secretary treasurer ofunite-here local 5 hawai'i hospitality and health careworkers union.

let me start with you.same thing with brian schatz, a brother over and over again.we're talking about the future of affordability inhawai'i. can they afford hawai'i now?>> if they can't, they leave. if you want to get a house, annot work three jobs to do it, you leave.and it's a function of high housing costs and generallyservice economy with generally low wages.we've done very well in terms after our union members.delivered the third highest

standard of wages andbenefits in the country. after new york and after sanfrancisco. our wages will probably passsan francisco under the current contract.done a good job on the behalf the community.exacting good money for local people in their jobs fromindustry that's booming and making huge amount of money.and not one of the challenges we face, is that our industryis no longer run by hoteliers or people interested inrunning hotels.

it's run by excuse me, realestate people who are into buying and selling property.>>daryl: we're going to get into that more later too.about the causes of our high cost of living.carrie larger you deal with students an older folks.who how are people coping what things cost here for some ofour younger cake recognize we're trying to prepare themfor the real world. with preparation kam comesaccess to different kinds of the resources' as well as forour older students.

it's a matter of knowingwhat's out there, to help them get the education because weknow education gets you farther in terms of the kindof earnings that they would need in order to stay here inhawai'i. >>daryl: how are they gettingby, young people, that you're in contact with? how arethey managing to afford to be here?>> well, we look families. and we also work with thestudents. so it's a matter ofunderstanding what the

students desires are in termsof their interests. as well as connecting them tothe salaries that they'll make, what the kind of careerdecisions that they're thinking about.so we show them the realities of what in their futurerecognize to help them make an informed decision.>>daryl: jack legal in the real estate business, youprobably see families all the time to try to afford a$700,000 house. how are people coping? andmanaging to afford real

estate?>> certainly difficult. you know, like we know thatour economy is growing. and apparently, unemploymentis low. but i think the seller as ericwas saying is not keeping up with the prices, high cost ofliving especially the cost of owning a home.and so i think what's happening is our kids, orkids, children are mostly living with their family.if you want to buy a home, their family has to help themeither with trying to co-sign

for the loan or give themmoney for down payment. just like my colleague.her children are on the mainland and they want to comehome or her daughter was trying to buy a house, butdidn't have enough money to buy a market home property.so they have to co-sign for them.the problem really is they are making enough money, thatthey won't qualify for the affordable homes and yet theydon't make enough money to qualify for the marketproperty.

they're kind of the in thegap. so unless the parents havefinancial flexibility children are just going to notbe able to survive or to live or even own a house.>>daryl: sumner lacroix, i understand that you've beenlooking specifically at this question.you might have some graphics to help us through it.>> i brought three graphics to try to give us a bit of handlecan on the prices of single family homes in hawai'i.we can see these.

the first graphic shows thepresence of single family homes in the on the four majorcounties. tremendous increase in theprice of family homes in the period 1998 to today.today, single family home on oahu goes for about $650,000.tremendous amount of money. takes a large down payment tobe able to afford a good amount of income to be able toservice it. most island families cannotafford to buy median home. it's not just true inhonolulu.

it's also true for families onmaui. with prices are over$500,000. families on kauai.prices are over $500,000. so little bit cheaper on thethe big island. >>daryl: second graphic youwanted to talk about new housing units.>> new units housing authorized is important wereally reduced atment of housing we're building in thestate. if we look at that period2000 up to about 2006, start

of the great resession, builtapproximately 6,000 unit per year in the state.since-shall per year in the state.since then, dropped 3,000 units.at 3,000 units, it's just not enough to keep up with withdemand. it's simple supply anddemand. what we found that demand hasbeen increasing somewhat for variety of factors.supply is not going to keep up.if we're going to build 3,000

per year.prices with going to escalate.research organization estimates if we don't buildmore housing by 2017 prices close to 800,000 on the islandof oahu. >> brings up the last graphicwhich about whether people can can afford those houses.why don't we take a look at that one.>> last graphic lists real per capita personal income.this is per person income. adjusted for inflation.>>daryl: that's the yellow

line?>> so that the yellow line. back in 1989, about $41,000.if you look at it today, it's about $46,000.that's a period of about 25 years roughly.where it's real income has only gone up by more than 10%.that's not much. it's really a small amount for25 year period. and last but not least,contrast in a with the first 25 years after statehood.then real income rows about 3% per year.tremendous growth over the

period 1958 all the waythrough the end of the 19 eighties.>>daryl: we have economy has really stagnated.we've got basically wages going up at this rate andhousing going up at this fair. >> that's correct.eric gil, what about your members in terms of thestories they're at thing telling you.you're saying, comparatively higher salaries dealing withincredibly high cost of housing.how do they cope?

>> many of my members do buyhomes but they do that by having multiple familiesliving in the home. so we've got members, forexample, entire family one bedroom and another in thenext and another in the next. in order to make the be ableto live there. that's my members who wedeliver wages that are well above the national averagefor the hotel industry. but the other hotels that arenot represented by local 5, no longer keep up.it used to be when we would get

a raise, nonunion hotelswould try to match it. that has stopped in the last10 years and gap has grown to in terms of total package overten dollars an hour. so hotel worker in a unionhotel would have a decent chance to buy a home hotelworkers across the street in nonunion hotel, live hadsometimes very terrible conditions.>>daryl: what you're saying is overall, as much as ourunion may have been successful, you're seeing therest of the economy not even

keeping up with you andfalling. and it's going to get worse.>> oahu right now is the ground, ground zero for hugeinflux of capital. this is investment capital.that's coming here to oahu because real estate prices onoahu basically hold their value.and stocks, nobody, it's very volatile.very risky. bonds, not making any money.there's very few good investments out there forthese huge corporations.

so they're into real estatebuying and selling. and what that does is itforces the cost of the property up and up.for example, we're organizing the workers at the astonwaikiki hotel right now. that hotel has sold last inthe twice two years. each time, another incrementprice goes on, debt service goes up and what that does isencourages the owners to reduce staff and reduce jobsand reduce hours to make up the difference.>>daryl: jack legal as

representative the realtorsof this states, are you seeing a tremendous amount of moneycoming from offshore and investing in real estate andforcing up. >> i think that's really thebegs the question, like we're building, a lot of times, thewe're building for for investors outside investors.for example, kakaako. let's take kakaako.kakaako is supposed to be affordable.they're building a lot of condominiums for those whoare luxury condominiums for

those outside investors whowill be owning this property. so again, we're talking aboutsupposed to be affordable homes where people can livethere, like workers and, people who work in the hotel.the only, as of now, the only affordable apartment there orbuilding is the hale kaela. with 204 units.and those are rentals. and the rentals over there aretaxi drivers, hotel workers, small business owners, whenthey build this place, 204 units, 700 applicants werelining up.

>>daryl: senator, so this theexplanation for the last graphic you showed us, thathere's our wages are going here, but something isdriving the price of housing up so dramatically, is it theoutside money coming in? >> you know, it's also worthremembering this conversation that we'rehaving about housing costs, and salary stagnating thiscould be so many cities around the united states.boston, san francisco, seattle, los angeles.all places where salaries

have not been rising at a highrate and housing costs have been soaring.why have the housing costs been soaring.one amount of regulation applied to the housingindustry. become extremely difficult todevelop an area in housing. koa ridge, whatever we thinkof koa ridge, there's people who are against it and for it.certainly taking castle & cooke a long time frombeginning to koa ridge project to trying to bring itto fruition.

all of those costs over verylong period of time make it very difficult and expensiveto build housing in hawaii. also true on the mainland.regulation of building housing inside major citieshas become very onerous. a lot of big city notice thewest coast. same conversations could behad there. people too who already theirpiece of the pie and don't want to see much morer of theisland be developed. there's really think one ofthe conversations we had more

of on oahu, really green fielddevelopment versus development inside urbancore. it's one thing to talk aboutthe specific development inside kakaako.be nice to see more of the conversation about theredevelopment of other neighborhoodings on oahubesides kakaako. what i'm hearing is keiki arecoming up with this bleak kind of environment, but how do weprepare them for that saving to teach them how to save?and also, with the education

that they're going to get, howis it affordable to go to college so there's all ofthese resources and there's latter approach, dependingwhere you're at, if you're in oahu i school or in collegealready, there's different stepping stones to get to thesalary and coin manies you want to achieve.-- income you achieve. to get a short termcertificate just to survive, that's what you do.you can always go back to get a oahu higher degree to themarketability of what you can

provide to hawai'i becomesthe place where you can start earning that higher living.that's what we teach our students.>>daryl: when you speak with the families that you'redealing with, is the price of housing like highest amongtheir concerns about the future?>> it's housing, it's day care, it's all of those coststhat a family needs to think about.so we try to look at piecemeal can you go to college for asemester.

how can we pull upon thecommunity based organizations to helpstudents get through each semester to get to their endgoal because it's all about short term goals to the longterm investment that you're trying.a lot of times, some people may not have the persistenceand perseverance to wait, but we try to carve it out in stepsrather than looking four our five years out.looking four or five years out, requires money and so wehave to plan in that way, but

show them in increments.>>daryl: let me honor you are viewers.we're getting quite a number of calls.backing up over here. next phase of our discussion.what is the number one factor affecting the cost of living?is it the cost of housing? or is it something else? whatis your feeling? >> we have a lot of things thatare expensive. you'll tilts have beenexpensive. part of that has been runup ofcost of oil.

electricity cost is startingto come down a bit because price of oil has come downsubstantially. gasoline was a bigcontributor to the cost of living.starting to come down. to see that contribute tostabilization. water rates have gone up.using up the aquifer. we need to more conservation.higher rates will lead to that.household, higher water rates are also a burden.sewer rate it's have also gone

up and the price of food.we have the highest food prices in the country.there's really no getting around that.we have extremely high food prices.and this is nothing in you. we had high food prices in1960s, 19 seventies, 19 eighties.those have continued. we've had high food pricesbecause we had no agriculture for local consumption.now we're developing our farm lands.and i would point out one

thing, it's like we've had amassive withdrawal of units from the housing inventory.hgea did a study. came up between 23 and 26,000units being marketed on the internet and vacationrentals. those units, many of themwould have been residences had they not been done there.you can make a lot more money renting to tourists forvacation rentals than you can make by renting to localpeople it live. that's what is happening now.we've got construction in

kakaako.which is being built for outside investors.what are they going to do? leave it dark or rent it outas vacation rental? that sucking jobs out our hotelswhich further exacerbates the problem income in thecommunity. raising the house of not justhere but new york for oh,. air b and b, 7 to thousandunits in 2 years. units being withdrawn fromthe housing market for local people and being basicallydiverted towards what happens

to be illegal hoteloperations. residential neighborhoods,not with the tourist tax or general excise tax.a lot of skating going on. a it's happening on over thecountry and contributing to the housing cost in everymajor city and it's skewing the development fordevelopment of units for the local market to developmentof the units for tourist market.>> >>daryl: jack, do you seesensing that same phenomenon

as a realtor?>> i think we do. yeah.just to piggyback on what daryl is saying, because,what i'm saying is, what's happening is i think, as yousay, the apartment is being building kakaako are beinggeared toward outside investors because this willbecome investorsers. call a shadow apartment.inventory. >> let me ask you a quickquestion. this comes from one of ourviewers.

home owners have a biggerinfluence on home prices than is generally acknowledged.please discuss. i think what this call senatorsuggesting is that -- this caller is suggesting thatwhen you own a home, you want to get the highest price youcan, highest value, if that means renting out a room orrentedding it out as a b and b.you'll do that. >> well, doctor was sayingthat, it's a question of supply and demand.when there's no, when the

demand is high, and the supplyis not there, so it becomes i guess seller market.so the seller can pretty much demand a price.jack up the prices we have. when that happens, you havethe ability to affect the local people can't afford it.because of that i'm hope owner, i want to get -- homeown recognize i want to get thehomeowner, i want to get the maximum price for my house.the market is getting healthy.so i'll be able to get the

maximum price for the housethat i'm living now. which is probably an oldhouse. now, some of the give up oldhomes to move up to kakaako. some of the newdevelopmentings. free up the old homes.which maybe somebody can afford to buy.but the problem is, some of these old homes are in primeproperty. kaimuki, prime locations.things like that kailua. those are high pricedproperties.

too.>>daryl: senator sumner la croix, how much ofdiversion out of the market is an issue?>> i'm not sure exactly. if you knew the answer tothat, i would tell you. i don't really know.agree though, clearing housing units that are beingdiverted out for tourist use. to my mind, what's reallyimportant is for the city to get and state to get a handleon it. ought to have the framework.ought to be clear what the

regulation is.it ought to be -- i think-- >> no mechanism for them tocontrol t which is why the vast majority in portland,actually legalized this air b and b thing.and san francisco, they just did about four months ago.tradeoff is pay back tourist tax and stuff and we'll createa registry and legalize it. 15% of those people actuallylegalized it. 85% did not.even became legal. that's an indication of whatwe're seeing here.

is illegal shadow hotelcorporations in essence, hiding behind the mom and poptrying tro rent out their room.we're seeing that here. >> let's not go too into theb an about b thing. we've got a lot of things totalk about. what i would like to get into,maybe you can help us with this, the actual strategiesthat families are using, is the equity in their home veryoften what they're using to take care of their children.are you seeing tactics like

that?>> some. about you many of them don'teven own a home. so what we talk aboutintergenerational change, what are some of the toolsthat we're giving families in terms of resources, in termsof saving, in terms of financial literacy, in orderto then make the decision of what college they're going toattend, and then how they are going to live in the careerthat they selected. so we point out the realitiesof what's happening so that

they can make an informeddecision about that. >> you know, let me, quickquestion from our viewers. might take us a little bit offtrack. i wanted to talk about overallcost of living impacts. i've got a couple questionsfrom people saying, hawai'i is highly taxed.is it the taxes, excise tax on food and drugs and housing?as opposed to other places that exempt that? eric, whatdo you any in do you think the taxes are significant driverof our cost of

living? -- significantdriver of our cost of living. >> our economy has been skewedfor many years. hawai'i used to be under thekingdom, used to be self reliant for food.food exporter. we exported millions ofpounds of rice around the pacific basin.that was done away with. we became a two cup economyfor sugar and pine, producing sugar and pine for outsidemarket. and our local self reliantagriculture has been

destroyed.since the withdrawal of the plantations, many of thoseplantation lands have been developed for other purposesother than agriculture. so we still are importing 95%of our food. it's being grown incalifornia and chile and all over the place and we'repaying the high cost. but it's also a monopoly costbecause there's no way that local produce to compete withproduce coming out of imperial valley or otherplaces.

big agribusiness and stuff.we have a problem on the food supply because it's allimported and because it's monopolized?a.we have a problem with housing because we'recompeting with outside investorses who can'ten moneyon stocks and bonds so they want a piece of hawaii.we're competing, we need control over our own economyto have a rational development of our economyand our future. >>daryl: you're saying youdon't think the taxes

themselves is the issuebecause it's all of these other bigger factors are aremuch bigger. >> everybody complains abouttaxes. i don't know that it's anymore taxed living in oahu than in manhattan for example.but the reality is the economy isn't driven by taxes.economy is driven by supply and demand.if our ply is expensive and our demand high, we're goingto pay high cost. >>daryl: sumner la croix, isthat a fair estimation of,?

do you think taxes aresignificant factor at all? >> no.i don't. i think that's 4.5 excise taxhere, 4.5% general excise tax is not excessive.state needs to be looking at where does the excise taxpyramid, where you find that vendor is selling to onevendor 4.5% is being charged. it's then charged again by thefinal seller. pyramiding to a larger level.the state constantly has to keep looking at that to makesure that the tax doesn't

pyramid.but the best tax is relatively low and assessed on broadnumber of people. if we find tax is regressivestate should be refunding it. we had that for a long time.we always need to be look at whether or not lower incomepeople are bearing too much of the excise tax.but i don't think the taxes are what's driving theeconomy here. >>daryl: let's shift a littlebit down to the actual, other side of the coin.salary side.

we've talked about how theyhaven't kept up. you sound like you're sayingthat we shouldn't be so hopeless about that.that actually, if given the right help, people canidentify and get to higher level of earnings.are you pretty confident about that?>> yes. i really believe in thepreparation piece of encouraging families to knowthe realities of what they're looking at, about you you canachieve the career that you

want with the sal that youwant. it will takai tame -- with thesalary that you want. it will take time.>>daryl: give me a specific example.what do you mean by that? let's say parents are highschool graduates, they are renting their house and thisperson is about to graduate. how can you help that personwho economically, and based on statistics, is not going toexcel much past their parents to get a job where they canafford a $700,000 house?

>> in that situation, also formany of families that we peek is to, that intergenerationalchange, again, it's all about preparing them at a youngerage. because you're not going tograduate and then try to figure out that plan.you have to start very early to look at the resources thatare available for that particular student,particularly if you have a lot of need when i say need, interms of financial need, there's a lot of resourcesboth federal, state,

benevolent donors, that canget that second generation student, or first generationstudent basically into college and make the kind ofsalary, but what we look at is salaries important but welook at where their passions lie, and connect it to thecareer. so salary is around importantpiece, but that student will not be happy if we don'tconnect their interests with the career and salary is veryimportant too. but it's a combination of allof those things that empowers

the student to do what theywant to. >> we have two educatorssitting here. education is critical for thenext generation. if we're going to talk aboutpeople making it in hawaii, part of it is to make sure youthink about your education f you're a high school studentor college student or someone in your 20's and 30's.education doesn't end when you graduate from college.it's a life long endeavor. and we have some really goodschools here in hawai'i and

we're making them better.one can talk about the ups and downs of educational reform,but many of us look at it and see improvements being made.whether it's in the private schools, public schools, orreally great research university that we have herein hawai'i. at manoa.really good university. in the future, there's thepotential, for the university of hawai'i at manoa to bedriving a more research tech based economy here and ithink, still want this

discussion, down in apessimistic point. potential for really goodeconomy. >>daryl: we're going to comeback more. quick break and remind ourlisteners tonight we're discussing whether ourchildren will ever be able to afford to live in hawai'i.call, e-mail tweet our questions or comments.973-1000 if you live on oahu or 800-238-4847 if you're ona neighbor island. let me actually just shift usto jack legal.

the kinds of young people, i'msure you meet young people all the time who are coming insaying, we ready to buy a house.what kind of jobs do they have and what kind of fields areyou seeing what people are succeeding and able to buythose houses when they're young?>> most of them like the work in the service, service jobsrecognize hotels, construction, things likethat. and a lot of times, we don'treally have a lot of savings.

that's why go back to what isaid before. their parents need to help atthe very beginning either with down payment orco-signing in the loan. and because again, the priceof a housing is just too much for this these young people.2 weeks ago, there was article in the advertiser about 30years owing old. two degrees.degree with web design, he's been to san francisco.bought a one way ticket to san francisco.when it does, really begs the

question, losingintellectual assets to help the state, we're also losingvery real way potential taxpayers.>>daryl: i see eric nodding in agreement.what do you see? >> my memory is most of mymembers come from other countries.they come here to build a life and a foundation and build afuture for their families and we're big, big believers ineducation. and it's, without therespect, you get them into

college, those student loansare crushing. they're crushing.i've lost staffer members. >>grace: can't pay themenough to live here and pay off their student loans.they move off to the mainland. all of a sudden, they'repaying off their loans. the cost of education isunconscionable and this community has lost itscommitment to providing good quality and affordableeducation for working people. but it's working people thatpay the taxes to drive it so

we've been upset with theattack on public schoolteachers, for beingthem to take roll backs. it's unconscionable.tuition hikes at u.h. i believe in u.h.but if it's unaffordable or if you have to mortgage yourfuture in order to get the education, how do you alsohave money to buy a house and assume that mortgage? so wehave to, as a community, which have to make a decision atsome point, if we want our kids to have a future here, wehave to make it possibly for

the them to did do-o that.in terms of creating enough high paying jobs, you needmore money into the economy. the way to create more highpaid jobs is put more money, spending money in the economyso businesses can grow and the money will go back.that's what we do for the economy.we get, right now, thirty dollars an hour.total package out of these hotels.that money goes straight in the economy.the money that is paid to

workers hotel industry goesstraight into the economy and if we don't get it, it won'tstay here. they'll buy the hotel, sellthat hotel, go off to wall street and do another deal.and that money will be gone. so what we need to do is weneed to fix more spending power into our economy tocreate more business opportunities.not just the hotels but the hotels is what we've got.that's the jobs we've got. we need to make them goodpaying.

we will do that.we need to be able to represent the workers to beable to do it. >>daryl: this is a great call.we have heard about the problems from the panel.can we hear their suggestions for how to make hawai'i moreaffordable for our children? i hear what you're saying.essentially, let's get the workers salaries up higher,so that they can invest in the economy.is what eric correct? >> one place i think we needto take a close look at reform

is with the jones act.jones act is a multifaceted situation.regulate it's shipping from the u.s. mainland to hawai'i.one part of it if we changed would really help hawaii alot. that's requirement to useu.s. ships. requirement to u.s. shipimposes big capital costs on the industry.a lot of shippers to hawai'i are need to replace theirships. capital costs are enormous.the idea that we don't have to

allow foreign competition.into the trade. we don't have to allow nonu.s.workers to be on the ships. we don't have to allow foreignflagships to be there. if we merely move toward usingforeign ship and u.s. no longers that the hauulas thecomparative advantage building ship it's f we useforeign ships that would i think help to reduce the costof shipping things to you who. would help to reduce -- tohawai'i. reduce the cost of living.wouldn't impair the jobs of

workers in that industry.>>daryl: you starting to talk about some of the excitingcareers that may be ahead. what are the general careerfields where you're seeing growth, people are gettingjobs? >> health is a big industry aswell. i think about what jack saidabout that student or that person with two degrees.some of things to help, that particular person, is we lookat internship opportunities, when we look at a lot of thelocal companies, and having

local students competitivefor the jobs out there, it's the experiences that we giveto them to be more. so internships, networkingwith professional it's, that's really helping to getour students to be able to get those kind much salaries.i think it's experience. we talked to employers andthere's a skill gap. what is the skill gap thatthey see? it's not having the experience that theyneed. not connecting to those kindsof 21 century skills.

working with people.teamwork, collaboration, those soft skills, we have tobuild in our local students to be able to be marketable.and to know that you're competing with many acrossthe nation, who want to come here.but how do we empower our students or families who arelocal to stay here? it's all of those connections.i go back to preparation and resources.that will help. i look at myself as a firstgeneration.

i'm speaking from experienceas well. in terms of going to college.going away to the mainland. coming back.and living the life that i wanted.so i know that it can happen. >> you know, sumner la croix,you were trying to remind us that we have a greatopportunity here in hawai'i. and taking from what ericsaid, about the debt that people come, is it a myth thatyou need to send your kids to the mainland to go to college?and perhaps if they come back,

they've got 60 or $70,000worth of debt. is is it smarter to send yourkid to hawai'i, u.h., have less debt, and have the -- doyou think the kids have the same opportunity in.>> depends upon the particular person involved.if someone has the opportunity to go tostanford, there's a lot to be said to going to stanford.u.h. manoa is a really good school.other schools in the u.h. system.that are really fine schools

for people can get anexcellent education. that's really to beremembered. just that we have some worldclass researchers at u.h. manoa.it's a school where you can get an actual education.and all students in hawai'i ought to talk a close look.at the university. we do things well.i think one of the problems university has had is we'vehad some management problems over the last few years.media has focused on that.

when you look at theuniversity, over the last 30 years, the amount of researchdollars bringing in has skyrocketed.we become a rebig research university.bring a lot of money into the state.quality of the faculty has gone up enormously over thelast 30 years. this is really become a veryhigh quality school. i think what's happening hereis we're losing track of kind of losing track of the factthat we have a great

university at manoa andlooking at some of the management difficulties.there have been some management difficulties.we're getting beyond that. regardless of all theproblems we have firing the chancellor over the summer,new chancellor, person highly respect.moving on from all of this. >> i see a bright future.>> it's all about college fit. are you going to put a secondmortgage on your home and you can get an education here.and you have to look four

years out.not just how am i going for pay for in year.it's looking at college fit over the course of four yearsand i go back to what i said about planning.u.h., yes, we have community college, we have u.h., we havethe different private school it's here that are affordableand it's affordable because there are scholarships aswell. if you prepare early there aremerit scholarship and need based scholarships.there's a whole plethora of

resources and college isaffordable. >> i go back to what eric issaying. people, go to college, spenda lot of money, come back to hawai'i, where's the jobs?>> you don't have to spend a lot of money to go away.you can get the education here.as an option. again, it's about thefamilies talking about it. >> do we have jobs for theseyoung people so that they will stay in hawai'i?>> so we look at work force

development.we look at the colleges. we look at the high schools.look at private organizations.so how do we look together as a collaborative partnershipto build exactly those jobs of the future that we don't knowexist right now? there's many jobs that will be createdin the future. that we don't he know.>> it's not up to the state for create new industries.it's up to the state to create foundation to create newindustries.

get back to the purpose ofkakaako, to provide housing and development that wascomplimentary to the cancer center and medical school.regardless of the so. current problems that thoseunits have had, the future of medical research is relybright. even if the units have beenoverbuilt, and they've had the recent problems, there'sgoing to be more medical research being done.more nih grants coming in the future.we're likely to see those two

institutions prosper andthrive. the purpose for kakaako to seeif we could have spinoffs. technology.>> i think we're getting diversion what's happening inthe community discussion away from that.it would be good if all people involved refocused a bit.>> we're losing that purpose in particular because we'resupposed to build like different types of housingthere. affordable from low toimmediate yen to market

property--median to marketproperties. what's driving the price isbuilding condos in the area and losing sight of theaffordable homes that need to be built in in that area, ifwe follow the requirement that 30% of total units shouldbe affordable to those earning 120% of the areamedian income, for sale property, and then developrental units, you only have to have 15% of total units and80% of the ami for rent. good point.>>daryl: come back to that a

minute or so.i have a large pile of cards. i was trying to find it.basically, eric, i think eric gill you mentioned this.we're all talking a little bit about greed here.is that we're talking about how we want to reform oureconomy, how we want to reform our housing.how we want to reform all of these things.but ultimately, it's about how much money is being drivenby how much money can people make.how do we, who's job is it to

control that? let me startwith you, eric. >> well, that's what we do.i mean, that's what i do for a living is try to -->>daryl: that's why i give you this question.>> the fact is billions and billions of dollars beingmade here on oahu right now, there's like 30 hotelsalready being built on this island.as we speak. many of west oahu.you have the kapolei. kapolei, all of those put inthere.

another one up at koa ridge.ocean point one. you've got the kam drive-inone. you got howard house istalking to me -- howard hughes is talking to me aboutbuilding three hotels in kakaako.new ritz kalakaua. new project being done at theking's village. that gts to go up.you've got massive amount of money being spent and none ofit is being spent in a way that would help us solve thisproblem.

investors all over the worldare looking here. and if you look at the recentsellout for those howard hughes buildings, 60% forforeign national, a lot of people in japan, china andkorea parking their money here because you can't make iton the stock it's and bonds. too volatile.currency exchange. oahu real estate great value.sell it at increase. competing with all of thesepeople who are trying to use our real estate for theirpurposes.

and really, what we have hereis real estate. we have a great university.we don't have tech industry. we don't have manufacturing.we don't have any of the base being underpinnings exceptreal estate. we're letting it, we'reletting it be frittered away. kakaako great opportunitythat's being lost as we speak. as all of this land is beingused to build luxury condos. >>daryl: let me go to jacklegal. interested hearing realestate person argue for more

affordable housing.i mean, it's interesting to me to hear that.do you think that the government should step in andensure that more affordable housing is being built even ifrealtors end up making less money.>> if you build a lot of different types of homes,like affordable homes, it will drive down the cost.if you follow the requirement of 30% of the total units, forexample, i just said to drove by hawaii kai today.7,000 hawaii kai drive.

269 units rental.54 of them of those units are affordable.the rent is from 1400 to about $1,500.64. and as we speak, i thinkkalaeloa is being developed boq.heard about this. rental in the old former.>> boq is being turned into affordable rentals.and i just spoke with the guy who is in charge of it and it's100 units. the rent is from 1200 to$1,400.

>>daryl: is that affordable?>> they said that it's according to the hudrequirements of 70% to 100% of the ami.so it's a one-bedroom. >>daryl: one bedroom for$1,200? >> yes.let me ask you, eric, the unions ability tocollectively bargain with employers is their power.do you think that the community collectively couldsomehow bargain, you were talking a lot about peopleworking together, industry

working with educations, doyou have hope that once we get to a certain point, we'll beable to do that we'll be able to change to take care ofgenerations we're worried about ahead of us?>> i always have hope for our future generation.i think incremental change can get us to long termrewards that we're looking for.but it will be incremental. it's not going to turn aroundquickly. but i believe, again, thoseshort term, that leads to

long-term success.>>daryl: sumner la croix, again, going back to the greedquestion. first of all, is that a fairquestion, and two, what do you think? where is thecontrolling faucet on all of that?. it's reallyimportant for the state to set -- some frameworks fordevelopment. it's important when housingis developed, there's incentive to develop rentalhousing and incentive to develop smaller units thatwould appeal to people with

smaller incomes.something we haven't done in this state until recently.city council and mayor are discussing microhousingunits. they're discussing allowingfamilies to build additional units on their property.all of this i think is really positive.the affordable housing requirements, i think attimes, are just dysfunctional requirement because they're atax on building of more housing.with the tax of bidding more

housing, we have less housingbeing built. so we focus on we needaffordable housing. but by putting theseaffordable housing requirements into the housingdevelopment projects, we actually end up with lesshousing being built. so prices skyrocket.focus again on the affordable housing.we need to go back and how can we build more housing ingeneral and how can we change the regulatory framework sothat it encourages more

rental development,encourages more development for low income people.all sorts of measures that the city and state can take inthat regard. they would really help.>>daryl: i've gotten a number of questions from viewers.are there enough skilled jobs and i'm wondering, eric, doyou feel that where do you see the economy going where theskilled jobs will come in? one of the things that struckme was there are skilled jobs in the hotel industry.there's tech jobs, it jobs.

management jobs.there's also engineering and so on.but i mean, those are tiny portion of it, where do youthink that growth in the economy where skilled jobs,where do you think that's going to happen?>> well, we've got many members who are working inhotels because they can't despite the college degree,cant find a better job outside.we've delivered pretty high standard.and that's not true in many

professions.i want to make money, don't be a teacher for example.public school teachers are leaving in droves becausethey can't afford to live on that salary.in the hotels, you know, many of the higher end jobs are notdeveloping. they're being exported.take jobs in the ones you can do in india or manila or otherplaces. lost many reservations jobsbecause of the technology that work is now offshore.and technology, for example,

has put food and beveragecashiers, endangered species.everybody is doing it like this now.technology doesn't necessarily provide the greatemployment. many tech workerrers are notorganizable. they're basically being usedas independent contractors. they'll never be able todevelop a pension program or anything like that.as an independent contractor. so if we're going to do it, wehave to actually address

labor standards and i don'tthink that's something that a government is well equippedto do. that's what collectivebargaining is about. >>daryl: let me ask sumnerla croix. there's been talk about theliving wage. actually setting a livingwage think i think. we had a panel here whereeveryone minimum wage should be $15 an hour.and do you think that that's a place where government cango where should go or does

that have unintendedconsequences? >> well, the minimum wage,i've been in favor of the raising of the minimum wage onoahu. apparently because we haven'tdone anything else the. i don't think it's a greatmeasure for the state to be doing.there's all sorts of other measures that ought to betaken. one is to improve education.and i see that happening. in the state.we've taken lots of measures

to reform education, changethe way that we appoint the school board rather thanelect it. made the governor forresponsible. we'll see if citizens holdgovernment to more responsibility there.there's ongoing reform in the schools that i see payingpositive results. we need to look at this morefrom just a minimum wage perspective.earned income tax credit something that would help alot of people in the state who

are working.this is one of the few states that doesn't have it.i don't know why we don't have it.that's something the legislature would help a lotof working people. >>daryl: in the other flipside of that, i got a caller from hilo.can the impoverished in hawai'i afford to live herewith all the entitlement the. it's harder for the middleclass won't qualify for these entitlements.i don't know if you feel

qualified to than analyze theentitlement system. do you see people going i'drather be unemployed than working?>> no i don't see that. to answer some of thosequestions go about the middle income families, yes, it is areality. and again, it's looking atthose scholarships, again, that can help.so if you're preparing your child to become competitive,those scholarships will help those middle income families.because that's where you're

either very needy or you're inthe middle where the access to resources become limited, howdo you prepare your child to do the best they can, to becompetitive, for the numerous scholarships that are outthere. >> jack legal, interestingquestion from peggy in lahaina.people 18 to 35 don't want to buy.they want to save to buy and rent in the meantime.but there is no affordable rental housing especiallyin west maui.

we must get government tomandate that developers build affordable housing.it sounds like do you think as a realtor, that the real needhere is for a place you can live affordably while yousave money. many many questions here frompeople saying build more affordable rentals.>> i think so. mentioned before.a young children, young people, they need to savemoney in order to buy. young people need to savemoney in order to buy.

if the they rent a place, orlive with their parents, they should be able to train how tosave money because that's the purpose of it.or when the parents build this adu's, additional room totheir existing homes, the kids will be able to livethere and at the same time, save money.so that they can in the future, be able to afford ahome. so again, it goes back to whathe's saying. they need to be able todiscipline themselves on the

value of money.on the power of savings. they must have a plan in life,to be able to see where they're going to be in thenext 20 years. and things like that.to saving is very important. i would agree with that.saving is very important for our kids.the way we having now is rental units is veryimportant to our why young people.>> we have about 2 minutes to go.let me just start around

circle.let me start with you. one of the things i with likeeach of you to come up with, what do you think is the mosthopeful thing or most important thing for us to walkaway from this conversation with?>> well, for me, the biggest and most helpful thing isafter many years of the me generation and basically,last 30 or 40 years, there's been very little activity interms of people actually taking, getting involved intaking action.

and what i'm seeing now isthat's starting to change. our kids, daughter justturned 30. just went through someexperiences, i understand what you're talking about.what we're seeing is young people actually starting torealize that they actually have to do something and ithink that will be it's force that really helps us move.if we have a people, actually get involved and getorganized and do things, we will -->>daryl: stop everybody now.

sorry about that i think whatyou're saying is something everyone here will agreewith. state law makers are debatingmedical marijuana dispensary system would meet the need ofpatients who use pharmaceutical greatcannabis or would make the drug too accessible tochildren and recreational users.will hawai'i's patients be able to buy medicalmarijuana. next time on insights objectpbs hawai'i.

i'm daryl huff.a hui ho.