STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1017

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 35

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Transportation, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 35 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE HAWAII HOUSING FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION AND THE HONOLULU AUTHORITY FOR RAPID TRANSPORTATION TO CONDUCT A JOINT STUDY ADDRESSING THE DEMAND FOR WORKFORCE HOUSING AND TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT; AND TO CREATE A DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR WORKFORCE HOUSING EXPANSION,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation and the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation to:

 

     (1)  Conduct a joint study addressing the demand for workforce housing and transit-oriented development; and

 

     (2)  Create a development plan for workforce housing expansion.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, Hawaii Association of REALTORS, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation; and Department of Planning and Permitting, City and County of Honolulu.

 

     Your Committees find that the lack of workforce housing is a serious and immediate concern for many of the State's residents.  The demand for workforce housing units along with the inevitable increase in population require the State to take swift and decisive action to prevent more families from being left helpless and homeless.  The development of workforce housing units around transit-centered communities will encourage families to utilize public transportation, providing the transit system with a baseline for ridership.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Amending language to request that the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting and Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, with support from the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, conduct the joint study addressing workforce housing and transit-oriented development;

 

     (2)  Inserting language to include in the joint study an evaluation of options to encourage construction of other public uses, in addition to workforce housing units and workforce rental units, in all transit-oriented development zones; 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 Housing and Transportation that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 35, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 35, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Housing and Transportation,

 

____________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair