Honolulu is moving to replace its aging affordable-rental program with a bigger one, which is good news for renters if it works but shows how hard it's been to build affordable housing so far.

• The city's current program (Bill 7), started in 2019, aimed for 500 new affordable rentals a year but has only produced a couple hundred so far, with hundreds more approved but not yet built.
• Rising construction costs, higher borrowing costs, and slow permitting have made that goal hard to hit.
• A new proposal, Bill 18, would let developers build bigger projects on the same size lots and speed up permit approval, aiming to squeeze more housing units out of each site.
• The current program is set to expire in 2030, and city leaders want Bill 18 ready to take its place rather than just extending what isn't working.

Outlook: Bill 18 is headed to a final committee vote before going to the full city council, so its fate should become clear in the coming months.