Happy New Year! Today, as we usher in 2026, we bid aloha to 2025 and take a look back at the Top 10 stories of the year, as selected by the editorial staff of the Tribune-Herald.
Affordable housing crisis persists
The island’s and state’s lack of affordable housing remains a pressing issue without an obvious fix. The best and the brightest among our young adults continue an exodus to the mainland with housing one of the drivers, and there is concern among some kupuna that rising rents and higher cost of living could render them homeless.
An updated draft of Chapter 11 of the Hawaii County Code, which addresses housing, is expected to be introduced before the County Council in early 2026. The chapter’s new framework is expected to significantly expand developer requirements, restructure the affordable housing credit system, establish long-term resale and rental restrictions, and strengthen funding mechanisms for housing production.
In the meantime, there have been some bright spots, albeit mostly small, in the midst of the morass.
The 92-unit Hale Na Koa ‘O Hanakahi affordable housing project in Hilo, serving seniors age 62 and over with a preference to veterans, was dedicated in October.
In September, HOPE Services Hawaii and Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church opened Hale Ulu Lehua, a 10-bedroom, three-bath house in a former convent, to shelter previously homeless kupuna.
HOPE Services in April announced the acquisition of the Kani Le‘a apartment building in Kailua-Kona for affordable housing. The building has 12 two-bedroom, one-bath units to serve families and individuals experiencing homelessness.
And HOPE Services teamed with Neighborhood Place of Puna and the Salvation Army to open the Youth Outreach and Supportive Housing Center, 22 housing units for young people ages 15 to 24 experiencing homelessness. The center, located directly across from the Hilo Central Fire Station on Kinoole Street, began operations in March.
A draft environmental assessment was published Oct. 8 detailing plans for Ainako Subdivision Housing Project, a proposed affordable workforce housing project on almost 61 acres of county-owned land near Hilo Benioff Medical Center.
The document, anticipating “no significant negative environmental impact,” outlined plans for up to 144 residential units designed to serve the island’s workforce and their families.
At an informational meeting about the project Oct. 23, attendees agreed the island needs more affordable housing, but many expressed concern that building near the hospital would worsen existing traffic congestion on Waianuenue Avenue and nearby roads.
Some noted that additional housing in the area could make it harder for emergency vehicles to reach the hospital, especially during peak traffic hours.
Others voiced concern about the archaeological sites slated for removal in the area once known as Kaumana Springs, and potential impacts to wetlands, protected species and the area’s watershed. The land includes historic rock walls that residents hope will be preserved.
County Housing Administrator Kehaulani Costa told the Tribune-Herald the meeting was “just to determine if it’s feasible” and said there wasn’t funding yet for the project.
And the county’s Office of Housing and Community Development announced in November the $2.68 million acquisition of the Dolphin Bay Hotel in Hilo’s Puueo neighborhood, with plans to convert guest rooms into 18 affordable rentals for residents earning up to 50% of the Area Median Income. The first units are anticipated to be ready in early 2026, pending renovation schedules and permitting timelines.
Study shows STVRs still stir controversy
Short-term vacation rentals remain a popular choice among travelers to Hawaii Island. However, as the number of STVRs has grown, the county now faces challenges related to housing affordability, tax compliance and infrastructure strain.
A study commissioned by the County Council released in September targeting about 7,000 visitors, found that 41% reported staying in STVRs, and 24% said they wouldn’t have traveled to the island if STVRs were unavailable.
In 2024, revenue from STVRs was estimated at $710 million — comparable to total hotel room revenue on the island. The impact of STVRs extends beyond lodging, with visitor spending on food, transportation, shopping and entertainment estimated to contribute between $565 million and $862 million to the island’s economy.
Still, concerns about revenue shortfalls remain. Hawaii County is collecting only $9 million in transient accommodation tax revenue from STVRs — far below the $21 million it could receive if all units were registered and compliant. According to the study, up to $12 million in TAT goes unreported, plus an additional $1.6 million in uncollected general excise tax revenue.
The impact of STVRs on the island’s housing market remains a contentious issue. The study found that 56% of residents believe tourism, including STVRs, has driven up housing costs, though most residents reported no significant effect on their ability to rent or buy property.
While there is a common belief that converting STVRs into long-term housing could help alleviate the housing crisis, the study shows only 4% of STVR owners would consider such a conversion. This suggests that eliminating STVRs is unlikely to offer a meaningful solution to the island’s housing shortage, the study found.
The county’s new law regulating STVRs — rentals lasting less than 180 consecutive days — was set to take effect Dec. 20, but it’s being pushed back to July 2026 to give operators more time to comply. Introduced as Bill 47 and now known as Ordinance 25-50, the law aims to ensure that these rentals are properly registered and monitored.
Shadow of a drought
Drought affected most, if not all the Big Island in 2025, and a weak La Nina — which usually means increased rainfall — hasn’t provided a semblance of normal precipitation, especially in East Hawaii. Extreme drought remains over portions of Kohala, Hamakua and Ka‘u, with moderate or severe drought plaguing most of the island.
Going into December, Hilo International Airport received 55.11 inches of rain in 2025, 51% of its norm, while Honokaa recorded 33.31 inches, only 38% of average.
It was even drier in Waimea, with 11.62 inches in 2025, just 31% of its usual total. In contrast, always arid Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keauhou had 127% of its normal rainfall through November, but that total, 11.19 inches, was only slightly more than an inch a month.
The drought was a factor in at least a couple of brushfires of note — the Kaala fire, which was confined by firefighters to about 500 acres, despite burning for months in a remote area off Kaala Road near Ookala, and a 2,100-acre fire off Mana Road in November, not far from where a massive fire blackened more than 40,000 acres in 2021.
In contrast to the drought gripping most of the island, the three functioning rain gauges in the Kona coffee belt — which has its dry season in the summer, in contrast to the rest of the state — registered a wetter than normal year. Waiaha, at 81.52 inches, Kealakekua, at 61.44 inches, and Kainaliu, at 55.89, all remarkably reported higher rainfall totals than Hilo in 2025. The fourth official coffee-belt gauge, in Honaunau, racked up some impressive monthly numbers, but had malfunctions that precluded a yearly total.
Fallen banyan tree kills two in Hilo
A massive banyan tree in midtown Hilo uprooted and collapsed on July 12, killing two women — 35-year-old Trisha Almazan and 48-year-old Michelle Comer — who were in the state-owned parking lot beneath the tree at the mauka end of Wailoa Pond.
The canopy crashed on the roof of a building owned by Kamehameha Schools that was leased by Calvary Chapel Hilo, causing extensive damage to the structure, which remains closed. The church, which will not return to the building, has held services at alternative sites.
Boughs also closed a portion of Kilauea Avenue, a busy cross-town thoroughfare.
According to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, it cost $153,000 to cut up and remove the remains of the tree from the site.
A GoFundMe page raised more than $10,000 for funeral expenses of the women, the parking lot remains closed, and the fall of the tree and its aftermath caused concern that other trees — including the signature Banyan Drive banyans on Waiakea Peninsula — could pose a risk to life and property, and tree maintenance projects were initiated by the county Department of Parks and Recreation. At last report, the fatal tree collapse was still under investigation by the state attorney general’s office.
Magma cum lava
Kilauea Volcano went off on Dec. 23, 2024, kicking off a series of high-intensity but short-duration episodic summit eruptions that occurred all through 2025, with fountaining episodes lasting between four-and-a-half hours and eight-and-a-half days, and pauses between eruptions between a week and three weeks.
The repeated high fountaining, sometimes as high as 1,500 feet, continues to dramatically reshape the landscape around Halema‘uma‘u Crater. Episode 39 of the series occurred on Dec. 23 and 24, with lava fountains as high as 1,400 feet spouting from both the north and south vents.
Park officials say the most spectacular show was episode 38, on Dec. 6. Ken Hon, Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory scientist-in-charge, said that with 1,000 to 1,200 cubic yards per second of magma escaping from the vent, it was the episode with the highest effusion rate.
The volcanic activity has brought a tourism boom to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, with 157,000 visitors in November alone — which also equates to a boon to nearby businesses.
The summit is reinflating and another fountaining episode is likely soon, scientists say.
Fires destroy downtown Hilo buildings
Three fires that destroyed older Hilo buildings within a five-week period killed three people and displaced dozens of others.
On Oct. 22, an early morning fire destroyed the Wild Ginger Hotel on Puueo Street. The fire, which caused $1.4 million in damage, killed a 66-year-old hotel resident, Gerald James O’Grady. The Hawaii Fire Department listed the cause of the blaze at the two-story structure built in 1920 as “undetermined,” but said on Dec. 19 that fire inspectors don’t suspect foul play.
Another early morning fire on Nov. 29 at an apartment complex in the former Puueo Poi Factory off Kekuanaoa Street killed two women. One was identified by relatives as 72-year-old Antoinette Amii, and authorities said the other is believed to be a 56-year-old woman, whose name hasn’t been made public.
An additional 28 residents of the former poi factory constructed in 1960 were displaced and assisted by the Hawaii Red Cross. A GoFundMe page titled “Tragic Fire Loss: Funeral for Aunty Antoinette” has raised more than $2,900 of a $3,500 goal.
A third fire on Nov. 30 destroyed three downtown buildings, the Goo Building at 207 Kinoole, at the corner of Kinoole and Haili streets, 193 Kinoole, directly adjacent to the Goo Building in the Hamakua direction, and 140 Haili St., which housed Kushi and Kushi Attorneys at Law and Olena’s Massage Center. All the structures built in the 1930s and 1940s.
There were no fatalities, but at least two of the buildings, which had businesses on the ground level, had apartments on the second floor, and an undisclosed number of tenants were displaced. According to tax records, the cumulative value of the buildings was more than $1.7 million.
The cause of the fires are all undetermined, but the late Fire Chief Kazuo Todd said the age of the buildings was “part of the factor in their flammability.”
Police and fire chiefs sought
Neither the Hawaii Police Department nor the Hawaii Fire Department has a permanent chief going into 2026.
The prior top cop, Benjamin Moszkowicz, was allowed by the Hawaii County Police Commission to use vacation days to achieve retirement on Aug. 31. The commission on July 10 voted 4-4 to accept Moszkowicz’s June 4 email withdrawal of his resignation. He had resigned via email earlier that day after being prematurely selected by Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi to be interim police chief for the Honolulu Police Department. Moszkowicz, 49, needed five yes votes to remain as chief, a position he assumed on Jan. 17, 2023.
The vote went along local-born vs. mainland-born lines. Commission Chairman Rick Robinson and Vice Chairman John Bertsch voted to accept Moszkowicz’s withdrawal of his resignation, joined by Commissioners Eileen Lacerte and Arthur Buckman, all mainland transplants. The four voting no to reject withdrawal of his resignation were Commissioners Jacob Tavares, Greg Yamada, Wendy Botelho and Lloyd Enriques, all Hawaii-born. Also opposing Moszkowicz’s retention as chief was leadership of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers (SHOPO), the statewide police union.
Deputy Chief Reed Mahuna became acting chief on July 16 and remains so as the commission acts to seek a new chief, which is expected to take place after candidates are interviewed Jan. 29 and 30.
The fire chief’s job became open on Dec. 14, when Chief Kazuo Todd, who was 45, died unexpectedly of an aneurysm. Deputy Chief Daniel Volpe is serving as interim chief until a new chief is appointed by the Hawaii County Fire Commission. Todd will have funeral services Jan. 10 at Dodo Mortuary, with seating preferred for family and close friends and colleagues, with a larger public service Jan. 11 at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
Dredging of Pohoiki Boat Ramp fails
A Department of Land and Natural Resources official said in June that a $5.4 million dredging project aimed at reopening the Pohoiki Boat Ramp — which was closed by volcanic debris and sand during Kilauea’s lower East Rift Zone eruption in 2018 — might finish successfully ahead of schedule.
As it turns out, the DLNR official, Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation engineer Finn McCall, spoke too soon.
Despite months of dredging work, tidal conditions caused the channel to be refilled at the lower Puna launch site that is vital for commercial fishers and ocean users.
“We acknowledge the community’s disappointment. We are terribly disappointed too,” DLNR spokesman Andrew Laurence said in late October.
Some members of the public took to social media, criticizing the project’s cost, suggesting the state mismanaged project funds and questioning the accountability of the contractor, Goodfellow Bros.
“Unfortunately, nature proved more than a match for this solution,” Laurence said. “The department is currently examining the site conditions and evaluating options for long-term solutions. We thank the community for their patience and understanding.”
In a written statement, Mayor Kimo Alameda said he shares “the community’s frustration with the results of the dredging project at Pohoiki.”
State Rep. Greggor Ilagan of Puna, who helped secure project funding, said additional spending to clear the channel again is unlikely.
“Putting more money into re-dredging the channel is going to be more throwing money into the ocean,” Ilagan told the Tribune-Herald.
Effects of federal shutdown trickle down
The longest U.S. federal government shutdown in history, which lasted 43 days from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, had a profound effect on both the island and state of Hawaii.
That included military members and many civilians, including air traffic controllers, not receiving their paychecks as scheduled. Some civilians opted to call in sick, including some air traffic controllers.
The Federal Aviation Administration implemented a phased 10% reduction in air traffic at 40 of the busiest U.S. airports, including Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye Airport, due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.
In addition, the Trump administration temporarily suspended Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits beginning Nov. 1. That left 161,132 Hawaii residents without their monthly $346 in federal assistance to buy food.
Gov. Josh Green provided partial relief with $250 in state food assistance funding for each SNAP beneficiary in November. The Department of Human Services projected a price tag of $40.6 million for the Hawaii Emergency Food Assistance Program funded by the state.
That also translated to The Food Basket relying on donations and state relief funding to meet the community’s increasing needs during the shutdown.
“We are seeing significant confusion, desperation and an overwhelming surge in demand for emergency food assistance as thousands of island residents face the loss of a vital lifeline for their families,” said Kristin Frost Albrecht, The Food Bank executive director. “Our island has a 43% food insecurity rate, with 62% of our children not knowing where their next meal will come from.”
Albrecht said the loss of SNAP benefits also meant grocery stores lost approximately $60 million in food sales to beneficiaries, which also translated to losses by farmers, ranchers and other suppliers.
To help Hawaii’s food banks, Green also provided $2 million in state funding to The Hawaii Foodbank on Oahu, for the nonprofit to share with its neighbor island partners.
Guilty verdicts in affordable housing scam
Three Big Island men were found guilty by a Honolulu federal jury June 4 in a housing credits scam.
Paul Sulla, 79, and Gary Zamber, 56, both Hilo attorneys, and 65-year-old businessman Rajesh Budhabhatti were each convicted of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and nine counts of honest services wire fraud.
Sulla was additionally found guilty of money laundering.
Testifying against the trio was Alan Scott Rudo, a former housing specialist in the county Office of Housing and Community Development from 2006 to 2018. Rudo pleaded guilty in August 2022 to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud by awarding affordable housing credits to bogus limited liability companies established by the co-defendants, and then selling those credits to other developers for a profit.
Rudo’s alleged share of that profit was $1.93 million.
Rudo solicited and accepted multiple bribes and kickbacks from Sulla, Zamber and Budhabhatti while working for the OHCD, approving three affordable housing agreements involving Luna Loa Developments LLC, West View Developments LLC and Plumeria at Waikoloa LLC. These companies were variously owned, controlled and used by the defendants to obtain public benefits related to development projects in South Kohala, Kailua-Kona and Waikoloa.
Through the affordable housing agreements, the defendants fraudulently obtained at least $10.98 million worth of land and excess affordable housing credits, with no intention of developing affordable housing.
As part of his guilty plea, Rudo agreed to forfeit his interest in the recovered funds and housing credits, in addition to real estate connected to the charges. He also has agreed to a monetary judgment of more than $2.1 million against him.
Rudo is set to be sentenced March 6, while Sulla is set to be sentenced Jan. 28, Zamber on Jan. 30, and Budhabhatti on Feb. 6, all before U.S. District Judge Jill Otake.
The Hawaii Supreme Court on July 29 suspended Sulla and Zamber from the practice of law. U.S. District Chief Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield on Dec. 4 found probable cause that Sulla had violated the high court’s suspension and ordered him held without bail at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu, where he remains.
Prosecutors also said Sulla failed three drug tests, having tested positive for THC and CBD — compounds found in cannabis.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.