SB2473 SD1.DOC

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that many grandparents in Hawaii raise their grandchildren when the parents of the child are not able to provide for the child due to a family crisis beyond the control of the grandparent. The legislature further finds that elderly housing projects do not allow grandchildren to reside with their grandparents, even in family crisis situations and this has sometimes forced grandparents to move out of their housing project units into homelessness.

The purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Allow grandparents residing in elderly housing projects to temporarily raise their minor grandchildren in their housing project units in certain family crisis situations; and

(2) Afford elderly housing project residents, who have been evicted for raising minor grandchildren in their units, priority status for acceptance back into elderly public housing projects after the family crisis has abated.

SECTION 2. Section 356D-71, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§356D-71[]] Resident selection; dwelling units; rentals. In the administration of elder or elderly housing, the authority shall observe the following with regard to resident selection, dwelling units, and rentals:

(1) Except as provided in this section, the authority shall accept elder or elderly households as residents in the housing projects; the authority shall also allow the minor grandchildren of a resident of an elderly housing project to live with the resident on a temporary basis, if due to a family crisis, the minor grandchildren would otherwise be without appropriate care. A family crisis shall include the following situations:

(A) Imprisonment or arrest of the parent of the minor;

(B) Criminal forfeiture of the dwelling of the parent of the minor pursuant to chapter 712A that results in the homelessness of the minor;

(C) Admission under chapter 334 to a psychiatric facility or civil commitment of the parent of the minor for mental health, mental illness, drug addiction, or alcoholism;

(D) The minor is abused or neglected, as defined in section 346-1, and the minor has been removed under authority of law from the care of the parent; or

(E) Abandonment of the minor by the parent for any length of time and the absence of other relatives able or willing to care for the minor.

If the need arises for an elderly housing project resident to allow the resident's grandchild or grandchildren to reside in the elderly housing project due to a family crisis, the grandparent and grandchild or grandchildren shall be transferred to a state family housing unit of appropriate size on the same island as soon as one becomes available; provided that if a grandparent resident has been evicted or transferred by the authority solely because the resident allowed a minor grandchild or grandchildren to reside in the resident's unit due to a family crisis, that grandparent resident shall be given first priority to be accepted in the elderly housing projects on the same island upon abatement of the family crisis; and provided further that federal family housing units may be used as a substitute for state family housing units whenever they may be available. The authority may use its discretion to determine if other situations constitute a family crisis for the purposes of this section;

(2) It may accept as residents in any dwelling unit one or more persons, related or unrelated by blood or marriage. It may also accept as a resident in any dwelling unit or in any housing project, in the case of illness or other disability of an elder who is a resident in the dwelling unit or in the project, a person designated by the elder as the elder's live-in aide whose qualifications as a live-in aide are verified by the authority, although the person is not an elder; provided that the person shall cease to be a resident therein upon the recovery of, or removal from the project of, the elder;

(3) It may rent or lease to an elder a dwelling unit consisting of any number of rooms as the authority deems necessary or advisable to provide safe and sanitary accommodations to the proposed resident or residents without overcrowding;

(4) Notwithstanding that the elder has no written rental agreement or that the agreement has expired, during hospitalization of the elder due to illness or other disability so long as the elder continues to tender the usual rent to the authority or proceeds to tender receipts for rent lawfully withheld, no action or proceeding to recover possession of the dwelling unit may be maintained against the elder, nor shall the authority otherwise cause the elder to quit the dwelling unit involuntarily, demand an increase in rent from the elder, or decrease the services to which the elder has been entitled; and

(5) Elder or elderly housing shall be subject to chapter 521."

SECTION 3. If any part of this Act is found to be in conflict with federal requirements that are a prescribed condition for the allocation of federal funds to the State, the conflicting part of this Act is inoperative solely to the extent of the conflict and with respect to the agencies directly affected, and this finding does not affect the operation of the remainder of this Act in its application to the agencies concerned. The rules under this Act shall meet the federal requirements that are a necessary condition of the receipt of federal funds by the State.

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2473
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII