HB2319.DOC

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2319
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to housing.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the demand for public housing remains at an overwhelming level. Home prices have increased in the last decade to levels where many individuals and families looking to buy or rent a home are faced with steep housing costs. In the current economic climate, the State is also faced with major revenue shortfalls that reduce the resources to ease the demand for more public housing.

The legislature also finds that the waiting list for public housing, nearly fourteen thousand, increases every year as a result of the high demand and limited inventory of public housing. Some tenants reside in public housing for lengthy tenancy periods; families sometimes stay for many generations within the same public housing unit. Long term tenancy diminishes the chance of qualified individuals on the wait list from ever receiving the opportunity to live in a public housing unit.

The purpose of this Act is to break this vicious cycle by restricting public housing tenancy, except in certain cases, to no more than five years. Although this policy may appear harsh, this Act is intended to:

(1) Encourage and motivate upward economic mobility from low- to moderate-income for people who are overly dependent on public housing;

(2) Promote integrity in the public housing system to prevent "homesteading" and lengthy periods of tenancy; and

(3) Increase the supply of low-income housing to address the homeless problem in the state.

SECTION 2. Section 356D-43, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§356D-43[]] Rentals[.]; leases. (a) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the authority shall fix the rates of the rentals for dwelling units and other facilities in state low-income housing projects provided for by this subpart, at rates that will produce revenues that will be sufficient to pay all expenses of management, operation, and maintenance, including the cost of insurance, a proportionate share of the administrative expenses of the authority to be fixed by it, and the costs of repairs, equipment, and improvements, to the end that the state low-income housing projects shall be and always remain self-supporting. The authority, in its discretion, may fix the rates in amounts as will produce additional revenues (in addition to the foregoing) sufficient to amortize the cost of the state low-income housing project or projects, including equipment, over a period or periods of time that the authority may deem advisable.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, if:

(1) Any state low-income housing project or projects have been specified in any resolution of issuance adopted pursuant to part I;

(2) The income or revenues from any project or projects have been pledged by the authority to the payment of any bonds issued under part I; or

(3) Any of the property of any state low-income housing project or projects is security for the bonds,

the authority shall fix the rates of the rentals for dwelling units and other facilities in the state low-income housing project or projects so specified or encumbered at increased rates that will produce the revenues required by subsection (a) and, in addition, those amounts that may be required by part I, by any resolution of issuance adopted under part I, and by any bonds, [or] mortgage, or other security issued or given under part I.

(c) No tenant, except for persons sixty-two years of age and older, persons with a mental or physical disability, or retired for medical reasons, shall rent, lease, or occupy any dwelling for more than five years."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon on July 1, 2010.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________