STAND. COM. REP. NO.  119

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2013

RE:   H.B. No. 518

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Housing and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 518 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for the State Rent Supplement Program to help homeless working individuals and families, who are ready to rent permanent housing, obtain and maintain permanent housing.

Catholic Charities Hawaii, Community Alliance for Mental Health, Hawaii Youth Services Network, Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, and Partners in Care testified in support of this measure.  The Hawaii Public Housing Authority, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Office of Community Services, and an individual commented on this measure.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1)  Expanding eligibility for the appropriation for the State Rent Supplement Program to all working individuals and families, not only to homeless working individuals and families;

(2)  Eliminating the requirement that the rent supplement under the measure will be available via participation in workforce development programs or other programs that provide support to workers to increase self-sufficiency;

(3)  Eliminating the provision that individuals' or families' maximum rent supplement be $300 per month after households pay a minimum of 40 percent of their adjusted income for rent; and

(4)  Specifying that no individual or family who receives public assistance or other government benefits or entitlements shall qualify to receive moneys appropriated under this measure.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Housing and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 518, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 518, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________ MELE CARROLL, Chair

____________________________ RIDA T.R. CABANILLA, Chair