STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2940

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2238

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 2238, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to require public housing projects and affordable housing funded by county or state funds to remain affordable in perpetuity.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

     Your Committee finds that the availability of public housing helps to meet the critical affordable housing needs of families whose lower household incomes often do not see comparable increases as the cost of living in Hawaii continues to rise simultaneously.  Your Committee further finds that requiring public housing to remain affordable in perpetuity is necessary to keep families in homes they can afford, free from a looming threat of homelessness.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Defining "affordable" as "available for households with incomes at or below one hundred forty per cent of the median family income"; and

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2008.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2238, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2238, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair