STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1273

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 928

       H.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 H.B. No. 928, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SOCIAL SERVICES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to expand the federal Section 8 Homeownership Option Program and the federal Housing Choice Voucher Family Self-Sufficiency Program, and to exempt Family Self-Sufficiency Escrow Accounts from the asset test for public assistance.

 

     The Hawaii Alliance for Community‑Based Economic Development submitted testimony in support of this measure.  The Department of Human Services and the Hawaii Public Housing Authority submitted testimony in support of the intent of this measure. 

 

     Your Committee finds that economic stability does not arise solely from income.  Financial assets, such as cash savings and home equity, are a critical component of economic security.  Financial assets offer individuals a viable and hopeful future, stimulate development of human and other capital, and enhance the welfare of children.

 

     The federal Section 8 Homeownership Option Program and the federal Housing Choice Voucher Family Self-Sufficiency Program provide unique opportunities for low- and moderate-income earners to save and pay for homeownership.  The Section 8 Homeownership Option Program provides continued monthly homeownership assistance payments to qualified Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program participants to help reduce their monthly mortgage payments, as well as, pay for other monthly homeownership expenses in lieu of rental payments.

 

     The Housing Choice Voucher Family Self-Sufficiency Program provides funds to public housing agencies to hire coordinators to help participating families set a plan for employment, education, and possibly homeownership.  A baseline rent is established in the first year.  As a family's income increases, the family continues to pay a percentage of its income toward rent, and the difference between its new rental payment and its baseline rent is deposited into an escrow account that can be applied towards the goals in the plan.

 

     Your Committee further finds that this measure will help increase low- and moderate-income families' homeownership in Hawaii.

 

     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 H.B. No. 928, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading 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