Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 870 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for programs and services for the homeless.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Institute for Human Services, Inc., the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance, and Partners in Care. Testimony in support of the intent of this measure was submitted by the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii.

Your Committees find that appropriate services need to be provided to individuals and families who are homeless, regardless of where they are staying. Outreach, case management, and housing placement are services that have been shown to be the most effective in facilitating the transition from homelessness into housing. Outreach and case management efforts focus on mental health, substance abuse, and other problems facing individuals and families who are homeless and help them access needed services so that they can transition to a more stable living situation. Your Committees find that this measure will help to support targeted services and programs that address the issue of homelessness in Hawaii.

Your Committees have amended this measure by changing the expending agency from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism (DBEDT), to the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii (HCDCH). This is consistent with the Administration's proposed realignment of the HCDCH under the Department of Human Services, rather than DBEDT.

Your Committees have also made technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 870, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 870, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.