Hawaiʻi faces one of the nation’s most severe housing crises, with more than 64,000 new homes needed by 2027. This summer, Alissa Ji MPP 2027—who is concurrently earning her MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business—worked for the Office of the Governor Josh Green’s Housing Team as a 2025 Dukakis Fellow, supporting policy efforts to expand and preserve affordable housing across the islands. The Michael S. Dukakis Governors’ Summer Fellowship Program is an opportunity for HKS students to serve in U.S. governors’ executive offices for 10 weeks between their first and second years.
In this Q&A, Ji discusses her role on the Governor’s housing team, the unique challenges Hawaiʻi faces, and the lessons she’s taking back to campus.
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Tell us a bit about your background and what led you to apply to the Dukakis Governors’ Summer Fellowship Program.
I’m interested in affordable housing and community development. I came to graduate school with the goal of learning about those areas across the nonprofit, private, and public sectors. Before HKS, my experience in the public sector was limited. I worked for a housing stability nonprofit in Colorado, helping scale and integrate our programs to provide emergency rental assistance, legal aid, and resource navigation to Coloradans facing eviction. Prior to that, I worked for several years in management consulting.
I applied to be a Dukakis Fellow primarily because I wanted to learn how state governments approach affordable housing policy. Since coming to HKS, I’ve had the opportunity to work in housing at the city level, in particular through the Taubman Center for State and Local Government’s Transition Term program. I wanted to build on that by testing what it’s like to work directly within state government.
The program was an incredibly rewarding learning experience. It deepened my understanding of housing development and not only what the role of the public sector has been, but also what it could be.
What was your role this summer, and what kinds of projects did you work on? And you also worked with an HKS alum—how was that?
I had the privilege of working for the Office of the Governor Josh Green’s Housing Team and supported projects related to producing and preserving affordable housing across the state. Hawaiʻi has an affordable housing shortage and needs to build over 64,000 new homes by 2027, so affordable housing has been one of the Governor’s top priorities.
One project focused on mapping infrastructure needs for affordable housing development across the state. Infrastructure is the biggest obstacle to building housing in Hawaiʻi—things like water, wastewater, and electricity. Our goal was to identify where and how the state could make catalytic infrastructure investments to accelerate housing development.
Second, I helped develop strategies to preserve the state’s existing affordable housing. In addition to building new housing, the state is simultaneously losing affordable housing due to market pressures from vacation rentals, aging buildings, and expiring subsidy contracts. We researched peer best practices, and I was able to talk to many state and county leaders and advocates to understand what kinds of financing tools and policy reforms would be most impactful.
Lastly, yes! My supervisor, Lindsay Apperson MPP 2023, is an HKS alum. Working with Lindsay has been the highlight of the summer. She has such deep housing knowledge and strong data and policy chops, and I’ve learned a great deal from how she thinks about the world—anything from housing policy, to graduate school, to growing up in Hawaiʻi, to working in state government. And she’s been incredibly warm and thoughtful about making the most of the experience. We had a lot of fun, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to work with her and the team.
“As policymakers, it can be easy to have an arms-length view of affordability defined by area median income levels. But ideas of a quality, affordable home are shaped by local culture and values.”
Housing in Hawaiʻi is often described as a “crisis.” How has your perspective evolved since working on the ground?
Hawaiʻi has been experiencing a crisis in affordable housing for decades. The state has the highest cost of living and one of the highest homelessness rates in the country. Essential workers like teachers are struggling to afford rents. Native Hawaiians disproportionately feel the impacts of the housing crisis.
I’m not from Hawaiʻi. What really struck me is seeing how housing is the number one issue here. Being in a small state, people know intimately the landscape, buildings, and histories behind them. Housing decisions impact being able to live close to family, preserving culture and the environment, and having to commute long hours to work. Short-term vacation rentals also contribute to the displacement of local residents. While there is a lot of opportunity to have an outsized impact, at the same time, people really feel the weight of the housing crisis here.
It was also an eye-opening experience seeing the dynamics across agencies and levels of government. Each of the islands has its own unique needs, and county governments and nonprofits like land trusts are piloting innovative, community-driven programs. I gained a greater appreciation for the role of capacity building and building alignment around more expansive approaches to housing.
What are some of the key initiatives or strategies the governor's office is using to address housing issues?
Over the last few years, the Governor’s office has been focused on building new affordable housing and addressing barriers to development. In 2023, the Governor declared a state of emergency in housing and issued the first-ever Emergency Proclamation Relating to Affordable Housing. It suspended many of the regulatory barriers to developing affordable housing—including some zoning and land use rules—with the aim of fast-tracking development timelines and reducing costs. The office invested in building a dashboard to track and inventory this progress. Over 10,000 housing units are in the affordable housing pipeline, aimed to come online by 2026.
Beyond development, the State has invested in adding density for public housing and ending homelessness by expanding its innovative kauhale initiative. Kauhales are deeply affordable small housing communities for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, rooted in the design of traditional Hawaiian villages.
“This experience has emphasized for me the importance of local context and history in housing policy.”
How does housing policy in Hawaiʻi differ from other states, and what lessons are you taking back with you?
Hawaiʻi faces many unique challenges when it comes to housing. First, Hawaiʻi is an island state. It has one of the highest construction costs in the country since materials are imported and land is scarce. But it’s also a small state, so funds like population-based tax credits and bonding capacity are limited and insufficient to keep up with the need. On top of that, the state has strict land use restrictions due to critical cultural and environmental considerations.
This experience has emphasized for me the importance of local context and history in housing policy. As policymakers, it can be easy to have an arms-length view of affordability defined by area median income levels. But ideas of a quality, affordable home are shaped by local culture and values. For example, multigenerational households and leasehold properties are common in Hawaiʻi.
I have a much richer and more expansive understanding of what it really takes to get affordable housing built, how to navigate competing priorities across agencies, and the importance of flexibility in policy and program design to ensure solutions fit the place and people—especially small states. It’s been a deeply meaningful experience.
What has been the most surprising experience during your fellowship?
Volunteering at a workday at Heʻeia Fishpond! We helped clear out invasive mangroves and weeded around kalo (taro) plants. The fishpond is over 800 years old and uses techniques unique and tailored to Hawaiʻi’s ecosystem. It was great to learn about sustainable aquaculture and have homemade traditional food like poi—and definitely got muddier than we thought.
Photos courtesy of Alissa Ji.
Through the fully-funded, nonpartisan Michael S. Dukakis Governors’ Summer Fellowship Program, students apply leadership and analytic skills to tackle critical state-level policy issues in health care, education, economic development, public safety, budgeting, and other areas.
