HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	30
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

urging the department of education to encourage the public elementary schools to establish resource centers on their campuses in order to combat homelessness.

     WHEREAS, thousands of Hawaii residents are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless; and

     WHEREAS, the slowing economy in Hawaii will subject increasing numbers of people to financial stress and potential homelessness; and

     WHEREAS, a key element of the struggle against homelessness is to ensure that families receive adequate, centralized  information and referral with regard to existing health, human service, educational, and legal resources that can help them to avoid homelessness, to cope with homelessness when it occurs, and to take steps out of homelessness; and

     WHEREAS, families that are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless often lack ready and early access to adequate, centralized information and referral; and

     WHEREAS, the public elementary schools are among the most recognizable, accessible, non-threatening, and widely used resources in the community, and the administrators and teachers in those schools have constant contact with and extensive knowledge of the circumstances of families in their community; and

     WHEREAS, the Kamaile Elementary School, the Blanche Pope Elementary School, and the Makaha Elementary School have established resource centers that provide information and referral; and

     WHEREAS, existing data sets on homelessness are inadequate to provide a complete, in-depth picture of the extent, nature, patterns, and circumstances of homelessness in communities throughout the islands; and

     WHEREAS, elementary school administrators, teachers, and resource and referral centers often have the information necessary to provide a more complete picture of homelessness; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Education is urged to encourage the public elementary schools to establish on-campus resource centers that provide information on, and referral to, existing resources that can combat homelessness; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is urged to foster the development of these resource centers as sources of information on the extent, nature, patterns, and circumstances of homelessness in their communities; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, the Superintendent of Education, and the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

OFFERED BY:	_____________________________
	By Request

Report Title: 

Department of Education; Campus Homeless Resource Centers