Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 2567 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to spur affordable housing development in urban areas by appropriating $2,500,000 for up to three grants-in-aid for developmental planning of housing projects that reserve at least 50 percent of housing units for households earning 80 percent or less of the median family income.

The City and County of Honolulu (C&C) Department of Community Services submitted testimony in support of this measure. The Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii supported the intent of this bill.

Your Committee recognizes that affordable housing has become problematic on a statewide level, not just in Hawaii's most concentrated urban area, Honolulu. However, your Committee acknowledges the findings of the Joint Legislative Task Force on Housing and Homelessness (Task Force) that the counties of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai all have plans in place and are actively pursuing innovative methods to develop affordable housing in their respective counties. Your Committee also recognizes that the Task Force received very little information from C&C, which no longer has a separate housing agency, and that the Task Force expressed its concern that C&C has not sufficiently demonstrated a commitment to developing more affordable housing in Honolulu.

Therefore, your Committee supports this measure, which provides funds for the development of affordable housing in urban areas, namely Honolulu, and notes that there are other measures that address housing issues in other counties.

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. 2567 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.