THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	58
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

Urging the Public Utilities Commission, Hawaii State Energy Office, and the counties to allow solar farms to elevate solar panels to create housing units beneath them to help address the homeless crisis.

WHEREAS, homelessness continues to be one of the most significant and persistent social problems in the State; and

WHEREAS, in 2022, according to the Hawaii Statewide Point in Time Count:

(1) There were over five thousand nine hundred homeless individuals in the State;

(2) There were nearly four thousand homeless individuals on the island of Oahu; and

(3) Sixty percent of the homeless individuals on Oahu were unsheltered; and

WHEREAS, addressing homelessness is a complex task that requires continuous resources and coordinated efforts at all levels, housing first programs have proven to be effective in helping to address homelessness; and

WHEREAS, as one example, the Cedar Church is helping homeless persons through the Cedar Farm Project by providing tiny homes to homeless persons on a four-acre farm in Waianae; and

WHEREAS, the Cedar Farm Project and other similar efforts to help homeless individuals, such as housing first programs, would benefit by being able to provide solar power options for tiny homes housing and rehabilitating homeless persons and low-income residents to be sustainable on their own; and

WHEREAS, opposition to solar farms is often tied to conflicting needs for low-income housing; and

WHEREAS, encouraging solar farms to elevate solar panels to allow for low-income housing units could achieve a favorable compromise; and

WHEREAS, the State's farmers and low-income residents could mutually benefit from having access to low-income farm worker housing and solar power options that by decreasing energy costs would promote self-sufficiency; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Public Utilities Commission, Hawaii State Energy Office, and the counties are urged to allow solar farms to elevate solar panels to create housing units beneath them to help address the homeless crisis; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, Chair of the Public Utilities Commission, Chief Energy Officer of the Hawaii State Energy Office, Chairperson of the Honolulu City Council, Chairperson of the Maui County Council, Chairperson of the Kauai County Council, and Chairperson of the Hawaii County Council.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Public Utilities Commission; Hawaii State Energy Office; Counties; Solar Energy; Homelessness; Farms; Housing First; Low-income Residents