STAND. COM. REP. NO. 525

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 840

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 840 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RENT TO BUILD EQUITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require developers of housing projects that are exempt from certain laws to enter into profit-sharing agreements with the tenants of those properties.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation.

Your Committee finds that the State is experiencing a housing crisis. A recent study by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism found that Hawaii will need more than fifty thousand new homes by the year 2025. High demand and low supply of housing has resulted in housing prices that are simply too expensive for most local families. Your Committee believes that requiring developers who use state incentives to share a portion of their profits with affordable housing tenants will enable local families to save for a home of their own.

Your Committee has amended this measure by limiting the provisions of this measure to apply prospectively and only to projects that are approved after the effective date.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 840, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 840, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Housing,

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STANLEY CHANG, Chair