Queen’s plans 150 employee housing units for new Kona hospital

Queen’s Health Systems plans to build 150 below-market-rate housing units on Hawaii Island for hospital workers over the next five years, turning its new Kona campus into both a care site and a recruitment tool. The housing is part of an 80-bed hospital planned for Queen’s-owned land in West Hawaii Business Park near the Kona Costco.

The homes would rise in three low-rise buildings and include both rental apartments and for-sale condominiums. Queen’s said the units would be reserved mainly for full-time staff, with some set aside for rotating physicians and specialists who come to Kona part time. The company said the housing would stay below market for as long as employees work at the Kona hospital.

The approach is unusual for Queen’s, which had previously tried to partner with outside developers on subsidized employee housing. Those efforts fell apart because investors wanted quicker returns, pushing Queen’s to take on the project itself. Jason Chang, Queen’s president and chief executive officer, said the system may wait as long as 20 years to see a return on the housing investment, a timeline that shows how closely the project is tied to long-term staffing needs rather than near-term profit.

Queen’s said the hospital itself was expected to open in about five years. Its December 2024 plans called for comprehensive inpatient and emergency care, a state-of-the-art emergency department, an ambulatory care center and a helipad to speed inter-island patient transfers. The company framed the hospital and housing as one workforce strategy, not two separate projects.

The wager comes as housing and health care shortages continue to collide across the state. The Hawaii Housing Finance & Development Corporation’s 2024 Housing Planning Study said Hawaii will need 64,490 additional housing units by 2027, while the 2026 Hawaii Housing Factbook said residents face the highest housing costs in the nation. Mid-2026 market data put average Kailua-Kona rents around $2,750 to $3,100 a month, a level that can put nearby housing out of reach for nurses, technicians and physicians being recruited to West Hawaii.

The pressure inside health care is just as real. The Healthcare Association of Hawaii’s 2024 workforce report counted 34,181 health-care positions statewide and a 14% vacancy rate, down from 17% in 2022 but still a serious shortage. Queen’s says the Kona project could help it compete for workers in a market where hospitals are up against tourism, construction and other employers for the same limited labor pool.

Kona Community Hospital, a 94-bed full-service acute-care hospital with 24-hour emergency services, has long served as West Hawaii’s existing public-sector anchor. Queen’s is now trying to add a private employer-built housing model to that landscape, and if the plan works, it could become a template for how hospitals on Hawaii Island recruit, retain and keep beds open.