RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Hawaii has long been known for its lack of affordable housing and for housing costs which are among the highest, if not the highest, in the nation; and

WHEREAS, in Hawaii, the only options for residents are to rent or own real property in the form of single- or multi-family dwelling units; and

WHEREAS, with monthly housing rentals in excess of $2,000 and home sales prices in excess of $500,000, the cost of renting or owning a home in Hawaii far exceeds the ability of average working families to pay these prices; and

WHEREAS, development of land parcels for single- and multi-family dwellings requires substantial site preparation work, including streets, curbs and gutters, utility installations, and dedication of offsite infrastructure including parks and schools, all of which may cost as much as $200,000 per lot without consideration of the cost of constructing the homes themselves; and

WHEREAS, in other localities, mobile home parks provide an intermediate level of housing between rentals and condominium or home ownership, for households of low and moderate incomes; and

WHEREAS, the cost of site preparation for a mobile home park is substantially less than that for residential developments, requiring only the provision of utility connections to each "pad" within a parcel of land, rather than the subdivision of real property; and

WHEREAS, the cost of site preparation for a mobile home park could be as little as $40,000 per pad, which when added to the $50,000 average cost of a mobile home, would result in a delivered price of $90,000 per unit in Seattle, or an estimated $180,000 per unit including transportation cost in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, mobile home parks, when properly developed, can be aesthetically pleasing as well as economical; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii, in consultation with the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Land Use Commission, the Office of Planning, the Office of Environmental Quality Control, each service of the United States Armed Forces in Hawaii, the Planning Department of each County, and the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance, is requested to study the issue of mobile home parks as one possible solution for Hawaii's affordable housing crisis; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each county is requested to consider adoption by ordinance of appropriate zoning and building standards for allowing mobile home parks as a permitted land use; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii is requested to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Executive Director of the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii, the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, the Chairman of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Executive Officer of the Land Use Commission, the Director of the Office of Planning, the Director of the Office of Environmental Quality Control, the Planning Director of each County, the Commander of the United States Pacific Command (who in turn is requested to transmit copies to the senior commanding officer of each of the military services in Hawaii), and the Executive Director of the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance.

Report Title:

Affordable Housing; Homelessness; Mobile Home Parks