STAND. COM. REP. NO. 617

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1586

 

 

 

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. 1586 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR A WEST HAWAII PERMANENT HOUSING PROGRAM,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to establish a program in West Hawaii to provide rental housing for the homeless in transition.

 

     The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Hawaii County Mayor; the Hawaii County Office of Housing and Community Development; Hawaii Family Forum; Catholic Charities Hawaii; the Office for Social Ministry; Faith Against Drugs, Inc.; and five individuals submitted testimony in support of this measure.  In addition, your Committee received a petition with over six hundred signatures in support of this measure.

 

     According to the testimony submitted by the Hawaii County Mayor, the county received a parcel of land from a developer that it intends to use for a project called the West Hawaii Transitional Housing and Supportive Services for the Homeless project.  The project would provide rental housing for individuals and families who are successfully transitioning through the homeless continuum.

 

     In addition to providing rental housing, the project will provide participants with on-site case management, health and life skills training, employment training, and other necessary services.  The goal is to provide fifty affordable rental units, four emergency units, office space, meeting rooms for case management and training, laundry facilities, and a common area or gathering place.

 

     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. 1586 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