STAND. COM. REP. NO. 487

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 833

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 833 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMUNITY LAND TRUSTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to support the expansion of community land trusts by authorizing, and appropriating funds for, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to establish a Community Land Trust Equity Pilot Program to provide community land trusts with a low-cost line of credit for housing purposes.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation; County of Hawaiʻi Office of Housing and Community Development; Nā Hale O Maui; Kohala Community Land Trust; Lahaina Community Land Trust; LIMBY Hawaiʻi; Maui Chamber of Commerce; and four individuals.

Your Committee finds that community land trusts are effective tools for producing and preserving permanently affordable housing, fostering generational wealth, and enhancing neighborhood stability. By removing housing from the speculative market and providing shared equity opportunities, community land trusts help prevent displacement and support low- to moderate-income families. This measure authorizes a pilot program to expand these efforts, which can help preserve long-term housing affordability in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriation to the unspecified amount;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $5,000,000.

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 H.B. No. 833, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 833, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

LUKE A. EVSLIN, Chair