HCR12

WHEREAS, chapter 201H, Hawaii Revised Statues, established the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to serve as the State of Hawaii's housing finance and development agency; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation is authorized to, on its own behalf or with an eligible developer, develop fee simple or leasehold property, construct dwelling units thereon, and sell, lease, or rent the dwelling units at the lowest possible price to qualified residents, nonprofit organizations, or governmental agencies; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to section 201H-38, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation may develop affordable housing projects that are exempt from all statutes, ordinances, charter provisions, and rules of any government agency relating to planning, zoning, construction standards for subdivisions, development and improvement of land, and the construction of dwelling units thereon if the council of the county in which the project is situated approves the project, with or without modifications; and

WHEREAS, county councils have approved valuable financial incentives for eligible projects, including waiver or deferral of plan review fees, building permit fees, grading and grubbing permit fees, wastewater system facility charges, water system facility fees, park dedication requirements, and height restrictions; and

WHEREAS, the State must balance the significant need for more housing, and the exemptions to the various construction requirements enacted to help provide more housing, with the competing interests of current residents desiring to retain the character of their neighborhoods, not increase congestion, keep street parking availability, and refrain from overloading the sewer and water infrastructure; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation establishes a maximum income limit at one hundred forty percent of the applicable area median income, which for urban Honolulu was $182,440 for a family of four in 2022, for priority to purchase affordable dwelling units and the same income amount for eligibility to rent corporation-owned dwelling units; and

WHEREAS, in the City and County of Honolulu, at least fifty-one percent of the units in projects with more than thirty units must be set at rents or sale prices at amounts affordable for low- and moderate-income households as follows:

(1) Twenty percent of the units in an eligible project must be set aside for households earning annual incomes of less than eighty percent of the area median income for the Honolulu Metropolitan Statistical Area, which was $104,500 for a family of four in 2022; and

(2) Thirty-one percent of the units in an eligible project must be set aside for households earning annual incomes of eighty-one percent to one hundred twenty percent of the area median income for the Honolulu Metropolitan Statistical Area, which was $104,500 to $156,700 for a family of four in 2022; and

WHEREAS, in the City and County of Honolulu, affordable dwelling units must remain affordable for at least thirty years; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the Senate concurring, that the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation is requested to lower the maximum income levels to qualify for affordable rentals under section 201H, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to reflect qualifications that mirror those of the City and County of Honolulu as follows:

(1) For twenty percent of the units in an eligible project, decrease the maximum income from one hundred twenty percent of the area median income to eighty percent of the area median income; and

(2) For thirty-one percent of the units in an eligible project, decrease the maximum income from one hundred twenty percent of the area median income to a range of eighty percent to one hundred twenty percent of the area median income; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation is requested to:

(1) Study the viability of increasing the minimum percentage of units in a project that a developer must set aside for low- and moderate-income households to qualify for an exemption under chapter 201H, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

(2) Study the viability of developing a mechanism to cap or limit the amount of exemptions an eligible project under chapter 201H, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that may be granted for zoning, including height and floor area ratio, so that the eligible projects do not destroy the neighborhood fabric that is normally guaranteed by carefully considered, long-range plans with the communities, interfere with the zoning that implements these plans, or overwhelm the infrastructure tailored to what zoning allows; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation is requested to submit a report of its findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation, if any, resulting from the study and the proposed mechanism to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2024; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and Executive Director of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Affordable Housing; Rental Assistance Program; Counties; Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	12
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII