STAND. COM. REP. NO. 528-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1744

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness and Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 1744 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOMELESSNESS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Authorize the issuance of general obligation bond proceeds to the Hawaii Public Housing Authority to begin the development and construction with a qualified developer or operator of permanent supportive housing units to meet the needs of chronically homeless individuals and families in the State; and

(2) Prioritize competitive federal low-income housing tax credits for the construction of these units.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, Catholic Charities Hawai‘i, Partners In Care, and Hawai‘i Health and Harm Reduction Center. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the State Procurement Office; Stanford Carr Development, LLC; Mutual Housing Association of Hawai‘i, Inc.; Ahe Group; Schatz Collaborative LLC; and Hawaii Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, Department of Land and Natural Resources, and Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation.

Your Committees find that chronic homelessness is a form of homelessness distinct from other forms of homelessness and involves an individual with a disability who has been continuously homeless for a year or more or has experienced a least four or more occasions of homelessness over the prior three years that add up to at least twelve months. According to the 2020 Oahu Homeless Point-In-Time Count conducted by Partners In Care, nearly one in four homeless adults were considered chronically homeless. The unaddressed problem of chronic homelessness is a particularly costly problem for Hawaii, and one that places a heavy burden on the State's health care and emergency service systems. Your Committees find that investing in permanent supportive housing is an approach to homelessness that integrates permanent, affordable rental housing with best practice community-based supportive services that allow individuals and households who have serious and long-term disabilities to maintain stable housing in the community.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Expanding the purpose of the supportive housing units to meet the needs of other vulnerable populations, in addition to chronically homeless individuals and their families;

(2) Permitting the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to consider an application for any applicable competitive federal low-income housing tax credits from the Hawaii Public Housing Authority for construction of permanent supportive housing, rather than mandating the Corporation give first priority to the Authority;

(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2060, to encourage further discussion; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1744, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1744, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness and Housing,

____________________________ NADINE K. NAKAMURA, Chair

____________________________ RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair