STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2209
Honolulu, Hawaii
S.D. 1
President of the Senate
Thirty-First State Legislature
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Housing and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 3018 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOMELESSNESS,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to:
(1) Establish a kauhale program under the Hawaii Public Housing Authority to provide housing services to chronically homeless individuals;
(2) Provide continued exemptions for existing low-income rentals, tiny homes, and kauhale;
(3) Establish an advisory committee to assist the Corporation; and
(4) Make an appropriation.
Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Hawai‘i Health & Harm Reduction Center, Partners in Care, Opportunity Youth Action Hui, HomeAid Hawaii, Hui Aloha, Ka Po‘e O Kaka‘ako, The Radical Hale – Outreach with Aloha, Hawai‘i Appleseed, and eight individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, State Procurement Office, The Michaels Organizations, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, EAH Housing, and one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness; Department of the Attorney General; Office of Information Practices; Department of Budget and Finance; and Stanford Carr Development, LLC.
Your Committees find that homelessness continues to be one of Hawaii's most persistent challenges and that kauhale can provide support for homeless individuals throughout the State. Your Committees further find that, while the exemptions for kauhale included in this measure allow for the rapid construction of low-cost tiny homes, certain regulatory exemptions do not allow for adequate review by state agencies.
Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:
(1) Placing the kauhale program under the administration of the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, with consultative roles for the Department of Health and Department of Human Services, and replacing references to the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation with references to the Hawaii Public Housing Authority;
(2) Removing language that applies the provisions of this measure only to the chronically homeless;
(3) Removing exemptions for the kauhale program applicable to appropriations, environmental, procurement, and sunshine laws;
(4) Expanding the advisory committee to include one member from Partners in Care and one member from Bridging the Gap Hawaii;
(5) Including exemptions for existing low-income rentals, tiny homes, and kauhale consistent with the Governor's 2015 and 2018 proclamations on homelessness;
(6) Making this measure effective on July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and
(7) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Housing and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3018, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3018, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Housing and Human Services,
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________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair |
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________________________________ STANLEY CHANG, Chair |
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