STAND. COM. REP. NO. 616

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1450

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1450 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE STATE RENT SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to broaden participation in the State Rent Supplement Program by removing the statutory limitation on the subsidy amount, which is currently $160 per month, and to increase the income limits for participation from fifty per cent of area median income to ninety-five per cent of area median income.

 

     The Hawaii Public Housing Authority, Catholic Charities Hawaii, Hawaii Family Forum, and one individual submitted testimony in support of this measure.

 

     Your Committee finds that the State Rent Supplement Program could assist a larger number of households in today's housing market if the statutory limitation on the subsidy amount is removed and the income limit for participation is increased to ninety-five per cent of the area median income.  According to the Department of Human Services, this measure will increase the number of households eligible for rent supplement payments by approximately two hundred additional households.

 

     It is your Committee's intent to allow the Hawaii Public Housing Authority to adjust the subsidy amount to reflect current market conditions.  Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Allowing a person living in a transitional shelter who meets the requirements of section 356D-153, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to be considered a "qualified tenant" for purposes of the rent supplement; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1450, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1450, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services and Public Housing,

 

 

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair