STAND. COM. REP. NO. 833

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1610

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1610, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO OHANA ZONES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to address homelessness in the State.

More specifically, this measure:

(1) Establishes the Ohana Zones program as a permanent program within the Statewide Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions;

(2) Authorizes the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to exempt Ohana Zones projects from the general excise tax;

(3) Requires annual reports to the Legislature; and

(4) Makes unspecified appropriations to the Department of Human Services.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Statewide Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions, County of Hawaii Office of Housing and Community Development, and one individual.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Taxation, and Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that Act 209, Session Laws of 2018, established a pilot program for the establishment of ohana zones, with the goal of improving the health and well-being of individuals experiencing homelessness and providing those individuals with needed services. Your Committee also finds that the Kauhale Initiative was established as part of the Ohana Zones program. Also referred to as "opportunity housing" or "bridge housing", a kauhale provides transitional, non-permanent residences to support homeless individuals in need. Your Committee further finds that a kauhale is a communal living space, with modest housing units for individual households, and shared space for cooking and eating, recreation, growing food or engaging in industrious activities together.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting the purpose section;

(2) Adding a definition of the term "kauhale";

(3) Requiring kauhale to have connections to public utilities, such as water, sewer, and electricity;

(4) Establishing an unspecified maximum amount of appropriated moneys that may be expended on kauhale;

(5) Inserting a repeal date of June 30, 2026;

(6) Amending the appropriations to apply only to the 2025‑2026 fiscal year; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1610, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1610, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair