STAND. COM. REP. NO. 543-06

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2006

RE: H.B. No. 2065

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Housing and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 2065 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to assist individuals in need of affordable housing by:

(1) Allowing elders living in public housing to take in a grandchild for the purpose of providing care to the child;

(2) Requiring that five percent of state low-income public housing units be set aside for grandparents who are the primary caregiver for one or more of their grandchildren;

(3) Appropriating funds for the repair and maintenance of public housing projects;

(4) Appropriating funds for design and construction of new transitional shelters, and repair and maintenance of existing transitional shelters;

(5) Appropriating funds for support services for homeless shelters;

(6) Appropriating funds for the Shelter Plus Care Program;

(7) Appropriating funds for the Housing Placement Program;

(8) Appropriating funds for Habitat for Humanity's Homeownership Project;

(9) Appropriating $30,000,000 for deposit into the Rental Housing Trust Fund;

(10) Authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds for the development of affordable housing;

(11) Allowing recipients of public assistance to be eligible for the State Rent Supplement Program (Supplement Program);

(12) Adjusting the Supplement Program payment; and

(13) Modifying the composition of:

(A) The Hawaii Public Housing Authority (HPHA) Board by adding an advocate for the homeless; and

(B) The Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Administration Board by adding an advocate for low-income individuals and an advocate for the homeless.

The State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Na Tutu, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, Land Use Research Foundation, Hawaii Family Forum, Hawaii Catholic Conference, Partners in Care, Blueprint for Change, and several concerned individuals testified in support of this bill. The City and County of Honolulu Department of Community Services and Office of Hawaiian Affairs supported the intent of this measure. The Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii, Hawaii Association of Realtors, Catholic Charities Hawaii, Hawaii Centers for Independent Living, and a concerned citizen offered comments.

Your Committees received compelling testimony on the merits of this measure, including suggestions for improvement. Your Committees encourage stakeholders and other committees to engage in further discussions with regard to the components of this measure, and in particular, the provisions allowing grandparents in public housing to take in their grandchildren.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this bill by:

(1) Applying provisions allowing grandparents in public housing to take in grandchildren only to elders living in public housing on the effective date of this Act;

(2) Defining children as those 12 years-of-age or under;

(3) Modifying the HPHA Board to include a person with a disability or advocate for persons with disabilities; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Housing and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2065, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2065, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Housing and Human Services,

 

____________________________

ALEX M. SONSON, Chair

____________________________

MICHAEL P. KAHIKINA, Chair