STAND. COM. REP. NO. 384

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1147

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Transportation and Energy and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 1147 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the strategic plan developed by the Hawaii interagency council for transit-oriented development to require that affordable housing be included as part of the development or redevelopment plan for any state property located within one mile of the Honolulu rail transit system.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Planning, Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, and Habitat for Humanity.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

     Your Committees find that development and construction of affordable housing units is critically needed.  Transit-oriented development associated with the construction of a rail transit system in Honolulu has the potential to fulfill this housing goal.

     The State has the opportunity to utilize its resources to significantly increase the inventory of affordable housing units, inasmuch as the State is the largest landowner of properties along the rail transit line.  Your Committees further find that requiring an affordable housing component as part of development and redevelopment of state properties along the rail transit line will increase the affordable housing stock and support rail ridership goals by locating denser, mixed use developments along the rail transit line.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Increasing the amount of affordable housing to be included in every development or redevelopment plan from twenty to thirty percent with:

          (A)  Ten percent reserved for residents with an income less than or equal to thirty percent of the area medium income;

          (B)  Ten percent reserved for residents with an income greater than thirty percent but less than or equal to sixty percent of the area medium income; and

          (C)  Ten percent reserved for residents with an income greater than sixty percent but less than or equal to eighty percent of the area medium income;

     (2)  Allowing a developer to build less than the required percentage of affordable housing at one rail station if the developer builds additional housing units at another rail station to offset the reduction;

     (3)  Requiring that the strategic plan developed by the Hawaii interagency council for transit-oriented development include affordable housing as part of the development or redevelopment plan for any state property located within one-half mile of the Honolulu rail transit system rather than within one mile; and

     (4)  Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and Energy and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1147, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1147, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and Energy and Water and Land,

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair