Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Health, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 79 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to request the convening of a task force to facilitate the establishment of viable naturally occurring retirement communities.

The Executive Office on Aging, Yacht Harbor Towers

Condominium, Policy Advisory Board for Elderly Affairs, Waikiki Community Center, Catholic Charities Hawaii, Assisted Living Options Hawaii, and an individual submitted testimony in support of this measure. The Real Estate Commission submitted comments.

Your Committees find that many residential buildings and neighborhoods have a high concentration of elderly, but no provisions for meeting their particular needs have been made. Many of the elderly are experiencing the challenges of failing health and independent living in apartment buildings that are not designed to support elderly needs. The public is now becoming more aware of the growing need for more supportive services for naturally occurring retirement communities. A naturally occurring retirement community refers to an apartment building, housing complex, or geographic community not originally built for seniors but where many individuals have aged in place.

Your Committees further find that convening a task force will address the ways in which condominiums, associations of apartment owners, and others can respond to increase and improve the viability of aging in place. This task force will help gather organizations with interest and experience in housing, social services, and gerontology to share ideas, concerns, and possible alternatives that support the viability of naturally occurring retirement communities. Additionally, the task force will obtain a preliminary estimate on the number of seniors in condominiums and apartments, an assessment of their frailty levels, and the types of problems they are encountering at the facilities where they are residing. The task force will also identify necessary elder care services and create new internal resources to facilitate supportive care.

Your Committees have amended this measure by requesting the task force to:

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 79, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 79, S.D. 1.