STAND. COM. REP. NO. 518

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 804

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Housing and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 804 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TEACHER RENTAL HOUSING,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Authorize the Hawaii Public Housing Authority (HPHA) and Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to provide affordable rental housing projects for teachers employed by the Department of Education (DOE) and public charter schools;

 

     (2)  Permit a project owner to lease teacher housing to eligible non-teachers if occupancy falls below ninety-five percent; and

 

     (3)  Appropriate funds to HPHA and the Dwelling Unit Revolving Fund.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawaii Public Housing Authority, Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, Department of Education, and one individual.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from two individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association.

 

     Your Committees find that there is a severe shortage of qualified teachers in the State.  Each year the DOE has to fill approximately one thousand two hundred teaching positions.  The difficulty in retaining teachers is inexorably tied to the ongoing housing crisis.  The lack of affordable housing in the State has driven many to leave the State for cheaper locations on the mainland.  The DOE employment report for the 2017-2018 school year reported that fifty-two percent of teachers who resigned cited "leaving Hawaii" as their primary reason for resigning.  Providing financial incentives such as affordable housing for teachers is one way the DOE can better recruit and retain qualified teachers.

 

     Your Committees note concern that the measure is silent with respect to a timeline for filling these units with non-teachers and, should this measure go forward, encourages discussion in the Committee on Ways and Means to address this point.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Housing and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 804 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Housing and Education,

 

________________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair

 

________________________________

STANLEY CHANG, Chair