STAND. COM. REP. NO. 115-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1777

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 1777 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require developers of housing projects receiving any development assistance from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to provide specified protections to tenants displaced or evicted by redevelopment; and

(2) Establish consequences for a developer's noncompliance.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation; Parents and Children Together; Maui Housing Hui; Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice; Hawaiʻi Workers Center; Adult Friends for Youth; Medical-Legal Partnership for Children in Hawaiʻi; Hawaiʻi YIMBY; LIMBY Hawaii; AARP Hawaii; and three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from NAIOP Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that efforts to increase affordable

housing production have inadvertently led to the displacement of

vulnerable tenants, disrupting their social networks and economic

stability. Your Committee further finds that residential

instability resulting from displacement is linked to negative

health and social outcomes, particularly for children and youth. Your Committee believes that it is imperative to balance the

development of affordable housing with measures to protect

displaced and evicted tenants to ensure their continued access to

stable, affordable housing.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the three months' rent provided as a replacement housing payment is the amount of rent the displaced tenant was paying before being displaced or evicted;

(2) Deleting language that implied the developer's obligation to extend a right of first offer was optional;

(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1777, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1777, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Housing,

____________________________

LUKE A. EVSLIN, Chair