STAND. COM. REP. NO. 509

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 898

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 898 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO KUPUNA HOUSING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish the State Rent Supplement Program for Kupuna that temporarily expands the State Rent Supplement Program to specifically target qualified individuals who are sixty-two years of age or older and are homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless;

(2) Require the Hawaii Public Housing Authority to submit annual reports regarding the State Rent Supplement Program for Kupuna to the Legislature; and

(3) Appropriate an unspecified amount of funds to be expended by the Hawaii Public Housing Authority for the State Rent Supplement Program for Kupuna, including funding to establish an unspecified number of public housing specialist positions within the Authority.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health Executive Office on Aging; Hawaii Public Housing Authority; AARP Hawai‘i; Catholic Charities Hawai‘i; Institute for Human Services, Inc.; Democratic Party of Hawai‘i Kūpuna Caucus; and four individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the State Procurement Office.

Your Committees find that according to the latest United States Census Bureau data, the poverty rate amongst Americans aged sixty-five and older has increased from 8.9 percent in 2020 to 10.3 percent in 2021. As housing costs and inflation rise, kupuna who rely on retirement income from Social Security or are on fixed incomes are struggling to pay for basic necessities and are therefore forced to cut back on essential expenses, such as food, transportation, and medication just to stretch their finite funds. Your Committees further find that in 2023, close to one thousand kupuna aged fifty-five years and older are expected to be evicted and more than one thousand five hundred kupuna in the same age demographic are expected to experience homelessness in Hawaii. This measure will assist vulnerable kupuna from being displaced from their residence and prevent them from becoming homeless by providing state rent supplement and services to Hawaii's Kupuna.

Your Committees acknowledge the concerns raised by the State Procurement Office over the exemption this measure affords the Hawaii Public Housing Authority from the Hawaii Public Procurement Code when selecting an organization to administrator the State Rent Supplement Program for Kupuna without providing a compelling reason. Amendments to this measure are therefore necessary to address this concern.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting the provision that would have exempted the Hawaii Public Housing Authority from complying with the Hawaii Public Procurement Code when selecting an organization to administrator the State Rent Supplement Program for Kupuna;

(2) Clarifying that the Hawaii Public Housing Authority shall adopt rules and qualification standards for participants of the State Rent Supplement Program for Kupuna, rather than the long-term rental assistance pilot program;

(3) Inserting an effective date of December 31, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(4) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 898, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 898, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ STANLEY CHANG, Chair

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair