STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2413

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2372

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 2372 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require state agencies to report annually to the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness on any vacant state land that could be utilized for construction of affordable housing.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Public Defender, Hawai‘i Health & Harm Reduction Center, and Hawai‘i Association of Realtors. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness and Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committees find that state lands suitable for the development of affordable rental housing were identified in 2018 by a Special Action Team led by the Director of the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development. Specifically, Act 127, Session Laws of Hawaii 2016, established a goal of developing 22,500 affordable rental units statewide to be ready for occupancy by December 31, 2026, and created a Special Action Team on Affordable Rental Housing to recommend actions to achieve this goal. In July 2018, the Special Action Team published a report titled "Affordable Rental Housing Report and Ten-Year Plan", which evaluated and identified state, county, and private lands suitable for rental housing that are affordable for low- and moderate-income families and categorized them into three tiers of suitability and readiness for development. Therefore, your Committees find that it is now necessary to have the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness review the lands identified in the Special Action Team's Ten-Year Plan and make recommendations on the actions required to develop the lands into affordable rental housing.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose;

(2) Replacing the content of sections 2 and 3, with language that requires the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness to:

(A) Review the Affordable Rental Housing Report and Ten-Year Plan issued by the Special Action Team on Affordable Rental Housing in July 2018;

(B) Determine whether any of the lands identified in the report are suitable for development of temporary housing for the Ohana Zone program or other forms of affordable housing;

(C) Determine the actions required to develop the lands into temporary housing for the Ohana Zone program or other forms of affordable housing; and

(D) Submit a report of the Coordinator's findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2023; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2372, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2372, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair