Inside the halls at Honolulu Hale, the affordable housing issue is stirring a flurry of ideas, some worthy of exploring and others that need to be put to rest.

On one hand, Councilman Romy Cachola is proposing the city stay in the affordable housing business, despite its dismal track record. While Councilmembers Donovan Dela Cruz and Ann Kobayashi have come up with a legislative package, that would create incentives — some that go a bit too far — for developers to build affordable housing.

Cachola's reasoning for holding onto the city's affordable rental properties is a valid concern. As Advertiser writer Johnny Brannon reported, there doesn't seem to be a legal way for the city to mandate new owners of the properties to offer affordable rents in perpetuity. That poses a problem for Mayor Mufi Hannemann who, back in February, announced his plan to move the city out of the housing business, and promised that the units would remain as affordable rentals, even after they are sold.

Cachola's solution: Keep the rentals under city ownership and use the new affordable housing fund approved by voters to cover operating and maintenance costs. That's not the way to go.

The city has already proven it is not equipped to give housing the attention and priority it demands. Just look at the facts: The city suffers an annual loss of $3.5 million a year to maintain 12 rental properties on O'ahu; a maintenance backlog on those rental properties totals millions more; and city officials rightly acknowledge they lack expertise in managing housing units.

A better use of the fund, which now totals $4 million, would be to serve as gap financing to enable the agencies to acquire the properties. Incentives for the development of gap-group rentals would be a wise investment as this group includes those who aren't in a position to buy, don't qualify for renter's assistance and aren't able to find adequate housing. The money also could be used to leverage other resources in the development of affordable units, including units for purchase.

And while it's easy to see why the mayor wisely opted to get the city out of the housing business, finding buyers for all 12 properties, many of which will require millions of dollars in deferred maintenance, will be a major challenge.

That's where Kobayashi and Dela Cruz step in. They believe their legislative package would make the offer more enticing for developers. To be sure, the package has some definite pluses, including mandating a higher percentage of affordable units for new residential developments seeking a zone change, and ensuring that the units remain affordable in perpetuity. It proposes that the city require "purchased affordable units to remain affordable for at least 30 years, and rentals for 45 years." Other sound proposals in the legislation include offering a limit on property-tax increases for long-term affordable rentals, and creating a policy that discourages developers from opting out of building affordable units by paying "in-lieu fees."

Some elements, however, must be fine-tuned. Even Dela Cruz admits these proposals will be controversial — namely the "inclusionary zoning incentives." Part of that plan includes allowing developers to build an additional 10 percent of units in exchange for adding affordable units to new residential developments. This can set a dangerous precedent and warrants caution. No doubt density will be a key component of O'ahu's future growth, and a smart development policy that determines where and how that density occurs is critical.

For his part, the mayor says he's working on a plan of his own, which he is not yet ready to unveil. He's brought on Rae Gee, who worked in what was once the city's housing department, as the new housing specialist in the mayor's office, and he also has ideas on how best to use the affordable housing funds as outlined in the Mayor's Affordable Housing Task Force Report.

The good news here is that all of these ideas will get the ball rolling. And as they move forward for discussion, let's hope cooperation and compromise trumps politics. To do anything less diminishes the issue, which is critically important to those on O'ahu struggling to keep a roof over their heads.