Episode 178: Mayor Blangiardi on housing, Skyline, and bringing film production back to our islands

On this week’s episode of the One O‘ahu Podcast, Mayor Rick Blangiardi joins host Brandi Higa to talk about the growing need for truly affordable housing, a Skyline anniversary, and the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act.

Affordable Housing

At this year’s Hawai‘i Executive Conference, new ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) data showed Hawai‘i surpassing the 50% mark for the first time in years. This troubling statistic highlights the urgent need for systemic change to address rising living costs, and housing instability.

“We are now under construction, in the pipeline, already built/will happen, more than 16,000 unites by the time we leave office,” said Mayor Blangiardi. “We are also in negotiations as a result of the success we created with Skyline, on numerous TOD projects as well, numbering in the thousands.”

For more on the City’s efforts to deliver affordable, senior, workforce, and mixed-income housing, please visit https://www.honolulu.gov/dhlm/.

Skyline Segment 2 celebrates one-year

One year ago, on October 16, 2025, Skyline Segment 2 opened its doors for passengers, adding four new stations and five additional miles of service. The expansion strengthened connections to major employment centers and destinations, including Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Māpunapuna, and the Kalihi Transit Center at Middle Street.

“The fact that the trains are running at 99.84% accuracy, there are busses there waiting, the expediency of that, the comfort of that, the safety of that, (and) the financial efficiency of that, you know people are slowly coming around,” said Mayor Blangiardi on this week’s episode of the One O‘ahu Podcast.

Since Segment 2 opened, support for Skyline has grown, now averaging nearly 13,500 weekday rides.

The Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act

The Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act (H.R. 10582 / S. 5552) is bipartisan federal legislation introduced in September 2026 to create a national film and television production tax incentive in the United States. That, on top of Hawai‘i’s film tax credit, could make doing business in the islands much more desirable for production companies.

“When I think about (the fact that) ‘Chief of War’ had to be shot in New Zealand, even though it was about Hawai‘i, as one example, or the fact that we lost NCIS Hawai‘i; they went elsewhere because it was financially worthwhile for them to do that,” said Mayor Blangiardi when talking about production opportunities lost for our state’s economy.

To read more about the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act, please click here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/10582?overview=closed

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