STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2474

Honolulu, Hawaii

,

RE: S.B. No. 2773

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2773, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to address the housing needs of pineapple workers who are displaced by the closure of Del Monte Fresh Produce and in danger of losing their homes at Kunia Camp.

Specifically, the measure provides for the following:

(1) A grant program to finance the purchase of existing homes by their current occupants;

(2) Mortgage loans at below market interest rates for eligible borrowers to purchase their homes;

(3) Rent supplements to enable eligible families to rent safe, decent, and sanitary housing elsewhere in the private market;

(4) Rental assistance to owners of Kunia Camp housing who maintain existing units at affordable rents for displaced workers and their families;

(5) Loans or grants for the preservation and substantial rehabilitation of existing rental housing units;

(6) Funds for the demolition and reconstruction of dilapidated housing units; and

(7) Funds for direct downpayment loans to eligible borrowers for the purchase of their homes.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142, Hawaii Government Employees Association, and a former agricultural superintendent for Del Monte at Kunia Plantation. The Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii, Pacific Housing Assistance Corporation, Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance, and Partners in Care supported the intent of the measure, but opposed using moneys from existing housing revolving funds for the intended purposes.

Your Committee finds that it is necessary to amend this measure in its entirety to accomplish the following:

(1) Allow the Hawaii Housing and Finance Development Administration to extend grant assistance to employees of Del Monte Fresh Produce who cannot afford to repay a loan, and authorize the Administration to provide these grants from the Kunia camp housing revolving fund which this measure establishes;

(2) Ensure that rental assistance is provided for those employees of Del Monte Fresh Produce who cannot afford to purchase their own homes as well as those who already rent, and authorize the Administration to provide such assistance from a Kunia camp rental housing fund which it shall establish;

(3) Address the housing needs of all pineapple workers who are displaced by the closure of Del Monte Fresh Produce, many of whom reside elsewhere than Kunia Camp; and

(4) Provide loan or grant assistance for the purposes of this measure to any cooperative, association, or other nonprofit organization acting on behalf of the interests of displaced Del Monte employees.

Your Committee has amended the measure in accordance with the above findings.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2773, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2773, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing,

____________________________

RON MENOR, Chair