Aloha,

This week I had the honor of delivering the annual State of the State Address to the Legislature and the people of Hawaii — and I laid out a vision for Hawaii’s future based on our shared values.
  George F. Lee / Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Over the past three years, we’ve made real progress on affordability, housing, and homelessness — but there’s still a lot of work to do.

The cost of living is still too high in Hawaii, and there are still too many working people struggling just to get by.

That’s why we delivered the largest income tax cut for the middle class in Hawaii state history, we doubled the earned income tax credit and the food tax credit, and increased the child and dependent care credit — putting $88 million per year back in the pockets of working families.

We are building new housing in our state at a scale not seen in decades — with over 62,000 units across more than 250 projects in the pipeline statewide, including 46,000 affordable units — which will help bring the cost of housing down for everyone in Hawaii.

We also empowered the counties to return short-term rentals to the local housing market, which will also help bring down housing prices.

Over the last three years, we’ve made the largest investment in reducing homelessness in Hawaii state history, and built more housing units for the homeless than any previous administration — expanding from 1 to 25 kauhale villages statewide, with 30 planned in 2026 — to meet our goal of cutting homelessness in half statewide by the end of the year.

We’ve included $16.5 million in our budget this year to cover the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits for Hawaii families who depend on them for health insurance, and we’ve secured nearly $190 million in federal Rural Health Transformation funds for fiscal year 2027, nearly $1 billion over five years, to modernize rural healthcare and expand access — both of which will create jobs and grow our economy.

The historic middle-class tax cuts, the housing boom we’ve set off with smart policies, and our major investments in healthcare will all help make Hawaii more affordable for our residents in the coming years.

I want to thank you personally for the trust and support you have given me over the past three years — we couldn’t have made this kind of progress without you.

You can read the full State of the State Address here.

Mahalo,

Josh