Honolulu Mayor announces COVID-19 economic recovery initiative

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell joined Honolulu City Councilmembers today to announce a COVID-19 economic recovery initiative in partnership with the City Council’s Economic Assistance and Revitalization Committee. The City Council will establish an advisory group to help inform COVID Assistance and Revitalization efforts, and Mayor Caldwell’s administration is immediately re-organizing the current Office of Economic Development (OED) into a specialized and focused entity that captures funding, coordinates efforts, and executes programs to recover and diversify Oʻahu’s economy.

“People are suffering as never before and help isn’t immediately coming from elsewhere,” said Mayor Caldwell. “We have already started deploying our CARES funds and this initiative will expand and accelerate our ability to aid the community. This isn’t about just restoring the status quo—it’s about rebuilding Oʻahu’s economy based on our community values, not undermining them.”

The re-organized Office of Economic Revitalization (OER) will operate out of temporary office space at the Blaisdell Center and manage a “Recovery Hub” to assist local residents and businesses. The target date to have the Recovery Hub open is July 1.

“This is the most important work we will do during our entire administration,” said Managing Director Roy K. Amemiya Jr. “This is about getting people back to work now in areas that can provide long-term economic security for our island. The Office of Economic Revitalization will not only help us to respond to this pandemic now, but will better prepare our economy to be more resilient in the face of future challenges.”

The Oʻahu Recovery Initiative concept had been previously discussed with City Council Members by the Administration, and will use five percent ($19 million) of the City’s first tranche of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding. The proposed Office of Economic Revitalization would provide a dedicated platform to coordinate recovery work with state agencies, the business sector, and non-profit agencies to tackle the COVID-19 economic challenge.

“Now more than ever it is important that we collectively assess how to move our community forward.  In addition to supporting our existing local businesses and industries, we must adjust to our new reality and take steps to diversify our economy,” said Council Member Tommy Waters, Chair of the City Council’s Economic Assistance and Revitalization Committee. “This means looking at ways we can invest in new sectors, create new jobs, and meet the needs of our local families. I’m excited to bring together a stakeholder group of diverse voices to advise the City Council’s Economic Assistance and Revitalization Committee as it works with community partners, the Mayor, and the city administration to both help our island’s residents now and lead Oahu into a more secure and resilient future. Before us is an opportunity to rise above politics as usual and work collaboratively for a better tomorrow.”

The Office of Economic Revitalization will focus in three areas. First, it will ensure that COVID-19 testing is widely available and business practices are safe to help ensure that Oʻahu’s fragile economy can stay open. Second, it will directly assist Oʻahu residents and businesses to find assistance and execute CARES-funded jobs and other programs. Third, the Office will help develop and transition Oʻahu over time to a more diversified and resilient economy.

“We spent the last two years talking with community as we built our Oʻahu Resilience Strategy and one of the things people from all over the island told us is that we’re too dependent and need to increase our self-sufficiency,” said Josh Stanbro, the City’s chief resilience officer. “This effort to respond to the COVID-19 crisis in a way that puts people to work and keeps our dollars on-island is literally giving life to the advice and input we got from our residents.”

Resilience Action #9 in the Oʻahu Resilience Strategy specifically called out the economic risk of an over-reliance on tourism, and recommended the creation of a more robust development office to spur community investment, support local business, and foster new enterprises on Oʻahu.Target economic development sectors include local small businesses on O‘ahu, health care, innovation and technology, resilient infrastructure, housing and re-development, green energy and transportation, sustainable agriculture, regenerative tourism, and the film industry.

While Administration and Council leaders made clear today at the announcement that the recovery initiative will evolve over time, the following elements will move forward immediately:

• The City Council will convene a stakeholder group to advise the City Council’s Economic Assistance and Revitalization Committee on economic recovery issues.
• The Administration will present a resolution to Council to reorganize the current informal Office of Economic Development into a formal and expanded Office of Economic Revitalization.
• Space at the Blaisdell Center will be re-purposed to host a community “Recovery Hub” and workspace for the Office of Economic Revitalization by July 1.
• The City Call Center, COVID Response Email team, and OneOahu.org COVID outreach staff will move to the Blaisdell Center and become part of the Office of Economic Revitalization.
• The City will immediately hire up to 15 currently out-of-work individuals to serve in COVID-19 response roles in call center, email response, business practices, and Recovery Hub “guide” roles for the community.