SB2401

PART I

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that homelessness is one of the most pressing problems in Hawai‘i, and it requires a robust, comprehensive solution to increase the pace at which the State is gaining ground on addressing homelessness. For the first time in years, the homelessness rate in Hawai‘i went down in 2017. Hawai‘i is turning the tide on the homelessness crisis by investing in proven programs like housing first and rapid rehousing. The network of people and resources engaged in addressing homelessness has begun to make more efficient use of available resources by implementing a data-driven, collaborative process that matches those experiencing homelessness with the services they need to make more efficient use of available resources. However, Hawai‘i continues to have the highest per capita rate of homelessness of any state in the United States, with an estimated 7,220 people living on the streets and in shelters – the State must increase the investment in and commitment to the solution.

Addressing homelessness requires a multi-faceted approach using proven interventions that are targeted to the particular characteristics of the population being served and that address the root causes of homelessness. First and foremost, Hawai‘i needs more housing that is affordable to low-income families. Hawai‘i has the highest housing costs in the nation and the lowest wages after adjusting for cost of living. The greatest need for housing lies at the lowest ends of the income scale —housing that is affordable to residents with incomes at thirty per cent or below of the area median income, such as the housing provided through the state low-income public housing program.

The Hawaii public housing authority manages hundreds of units that are vacant due to the need for major repairs. These units could rapidly be brought back into service and assist homeless and extremely low-income families with housing at thirty per cent of their income.

In addition to affordable housing, Hawai‘i needs to sustain programs that connect people experiencing homelessness with critical services and housing programs such as outreach, rapid rehousing, the state rent supplement program, housing first, Oahu's family assessment center, and law enforcement assisted diversion.

Outreach is critically necessary to connect people to all available housing options: emergency shelters, transitional shelters, housing first, rapid rehousing with rent stipends, and treatment. For many chronically homeless mentally ill persons, it can take fifty or more individual outreach contacts, spread out over several months or even years, to build up trust and move individuals and families off the streets. Outreach teams may also conduct wound care, distribute hygiene kits or snacks, and offer to obtain identification documents.

Housing first programs are proven to be effective in addressing homelessness for chronically homeless individuals, including those who have an addiction or mental illness, or both. The principles of housing first programs include:

(1) Providing robust support services for program participants that are predicated on assertive engagement rather than coercion;

(2) Providing robust support services for program participants that are predicated on assertive engagement rather than coercion;

(3) Granting chronically homeless individuals priority as program participants in housing first programs;

(4) Embracing a harm-reduction approach to addictions rather than mandating abstinence while supporting program participant commitments to recovery; and

(5) Providing program participants with leases and tenant protections as provided by law.

While housing first programs are relatively costly, they are cost-effective. Providing housing and services under the housing first program is less costly than the alternative of incurring costs for emergency services and other services necessary for unhoused persons who are chronically homeless.

The rapid rehousing and state rent supplement programs are proven to be effective in securing and maintaining housing for working individuals and families who are homeless. A significant segment of homeless people have a stable source of income and only need modest financial help and some "housing stabilization" services – instead of full-scale subsidies and intensive, ongoing case management. More than a quarter of the State's households fall into homelessness simply because they are short of money to pay for their rent but have no other underlying issues. For these individuals and families, small subsidies allow them to more rapidly secure housing and move out of shelters into permanent housing.

Rapid rehousing provides struggling households with a financial shot in the arm - typically a one-tie payment to cover delinquent rent, utility payments, or first month's rent and security deposit. This one-time intervention is often all families need to avoid homelessness or to quickly bounce back from becoming homeless.

The state rent supplement program provides a sustained subsidy to struggling households. Unlike the housing choice voucher program, also known as the section 8 program, which helps families at the lowest ends of the income scale by bridging a wide affordability gap between income and housing costs through subsidies, the state rent supplement program helps households who are closer to financial self-sufficiency but still have a narrow affordability gap to fill. The state rent supplement program provides a small, time-limited subsidy, warding off homelessness while providing time for families to close the affordability gap and achieve self-sufficiency. Financial case management and counseling are critical to stabilize these families for future sustainability in permanent housing.

Because individual subsidies under the rapid rehousing and state rent supplement programs are relatively low, the programs can resolve homelessness for a large number of individuals and families relative to the total cost of the subsidy programs.

The family assessment center, which was opened on Oahu in September 2016, has achieved extraordinary results over its first year of operation. Out of fifty-four households served, ninety-one per cent were successfully housed. The assessment center provides comprehensive services to the households it serves including benefits reviews and determinations, health assessments, service coordination, and housing placement. This proven model can be replicated on the neighbor islands as an effective way to move families with children to permanent housing. For example, on Hawai‘i island, a large parcel of land has been set aside to develop housing solutions for homelessness in Kona, where the need for localized services is particularly acute.

Finally, to adequately address homelessness, Hawai‘i needs to disrupt the ineffective, destructive, and expensive revolving cycle of substance abuse addiction that leads to homelessness, arrest, incarceration, release, and back to addiction on the streets. LEAD, or law enforcement assisted diversion, is a pre-booking diversion program that grants police officers the discretionary authority to redirect low-level offenders, typically drug-involved and homeless, to case managers if the offenders are willing.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the Hawaii public housing authority, department of human services, and department of health to support the State's most effective programs to end homelessness: public housing, outreach, rapid rehousing, housing first, Oahu's family assessment center, the LEAD program, and civil legal services and establish a one-year pilot program to assist families at risk of homelessness to obtain permanent housing.

PART II

SECTION 2. (a) There is established within the Hawaii public housing authority a three-year state rental assistance program. The purpose of this program is to assist families with minors and at imminent risk of homelessness to obtain and maintain permanent housing.

(b) The state rental assistance program shall:

(1) Assist one hundred homeless families with minor children or those families with minor children at imminent risk of homelessness due to domestic violence;

(2) Assist with obtaining or maintaining permanent housing, with time-limited rental assistance up to $500 per month; and

(3) Provide financial case management by a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development certified financial counseling organization.

(c) The board of directors of the Hawaii public housing authority shall adopt rules, pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, necessary for the purposes of this section.

(d) The board of directors of the Hawaii public housing authority may employ, without regard to chapter 76, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and at pleasure may dismiss persons it finds necessary for the performance of its functions and fix their compensation.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $800,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2018-2019 for the Hawaii public housing authority to administer the state rental assistance program and administrative costs to operate the program.

SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $35,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2018-2019 for the Hawaii public housing authority to provide public housing improvements and renovations statewide.

SECTION 5. The sums appropriated in sections 3 and 4 of this Act shall be expended by the Hawaii public housing authority for the purposes of this part.

PART III

SECTION 6. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $3,750,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2018-2019 for the department of human services to continue to administer housing first programs for chronically homeless individuals in the State.

SECTION 7. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $3,750,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2018-2019 for the department of human services to continue to administer the rapid rehousing program to assist homeless individuals or families in obtaining or maintain permanent housing and to cover housing stabilization services and administrative costs to operate the program.

SECTION 8. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $2,200,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2018-2019 for the department of human services to continue to administer the outreach services program to homeless persons, including but not limited to individuals and families with children, and unaccompanied homeless youth; provided that $310,000 of the sum appropriated shall be expended for civil legal services.

SECTION 9. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $680,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2018-2019 for the department of human services to continue to administer the family assessment center on Oahu for homeless families.

SECTION 10. The sums appropriated in sections 7 to 9 of this Act shall be expended by the department of human services for the purposes of this part.

PART IV

SECTION 11. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2018-2019 for the department of health to continue to administer homeless outreach, counseling, and diversion for unsheltered persons experiencing substance abuse; provided that $250,000 of the sum appropriated shall be expended to continue administering the law enforcement assisted diversion pilot program.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this part.

PART V

SECTION 12. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2018;

provided that section 2 be repealed on June 30, 2021.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2401
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018
STATE OF HAWAII