Backlog of Honolulu Building Permits Taking Toll on Revenues

[Jake]

There is a significant backlog for Honolulu's Department of Planning and Permitting, or DPP for short. There is now close to 20,000 applications for just 2023 alone, but only fewer than 15,000 or so permits have been issued.

Property owners and developers are facing longer wait times for approvals, in turn delaying the process even further. This is only resulting in financial losses and postponed construction starts.

One thing that needs to be done, is to modernize. The DPPs turnover rate for staff is high. The big reasons are due to outdated systems and inconsistent application quality. The department wasn't good when it came to processing permits efficiently, and it doesn't help that their computer systems made it worse. The need is to standardize procedures.

Something needs to change soon though, as these continued delayed with permit approvals are costing Honolulu millions in possible tax revenue and permit fees. Some things that have been brought up to fix it were to increase staff salaries, streamline the permitting process, and last but not least is to implement modern tech to improve efficiency.

Do you think they can make this happen? Read more on this news here: DJC Oregon

 

[Winny]

Streamlining the process is ideal. Especially if there are so many waiting for permits to clear. It's good to see they're trying to do the needed work to improve on the overall experience and service though.

They need to enact a system that can better keep track of the permits, and especially help people obtain them in due time, not keep them waiting for extended periods of time. This not only costs them money, but the people wiaitng for the permits are also dealing with costs due to the wait.

 

[Overtime]

In my opinion, I believe they've they'd be better served by investing in better training and hiring more staff. There are some things that technology and modernization just won't fix.