Bill Text: HI HB2281 | 2018 | Regular Session | Amended

Hawaii House Bill 2281 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Relating To Homelessness.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-04-27 - Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Friday, 04-27-18 at 2:00pm in Conference Room 325. [HB2281 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2018-HB2281-Amended.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2281
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII		S.D. 1

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO HOMELESSNESS.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that homelessness is one of the most pressing problems in Hawaii and requires a robust, comprehensive effort to increase the pace at which Hawaii addresses homelessness. In 2017, for the first time in years, Hawaii's homelessness rate decreased. Hawaii is turning the tide on the homelessness crisis by investing in proven programs, such as housing first and rapid rehousing. The network of people and resources engaged in addressing homelessness has begun to make more efficient use of available resources by implementing a data-driven, collaborative process that matches those experiencing homelessness with the services they need. However, Hawaii continues to have the highest per capita rate of homelessness of any state in the United States, with an estimated 7,220 homeless people living on the streets and in temporary shelters. Given the magnitude of Hawaii's homelessness problem, the State needs to increase its investment in, and commitment to, a solution.

The legislature further finds that addressing homelessness requires a multi-faceted approach using proven interventions that are targeted to particular characteristics of the homeless population and address the root causes of homelessness. First and foremost, Hawaii needs more housing that is affordable to low-income families. Hawaii has the highest housing costs in the nation and the lowest wages after adjustment for the cost of living. The greatest need is for housing that is affordable to residents at the lowest end of the income scale, with incomes at thirty per cent or below the area median income. Much like housing provided through the State's low-income public housing program, building housing for this income demographic will require significant government subsidies. Also, the Hawaii public housing authority manages hundreds of units that are vacant due to the need for major repairs, and these units could be rapidly brought back into service to assist homeless and extremely low-income families.

The legislature further finds that in addition to affordable housing, Hawaii needs to sustain programs that connect people experiencing homelessness with critical services and housing, and programs that provide services, such as outreach, rapid rehousing, rent supplements, housing first, assistance at Oahu's family assessment center, law enforcement assisted diversion, and substance abuse treatment.

Moreover, the legislature recognizes that outreach is critically necessary to connect people to all available housing options, such as emergency shelters, transitional shelters, housing first, rapid rehousing with rent stipends, and other assistance. For many chronically homeless mentally ill persons, it may take fifty or more individual outreach contacts, over several months or years, to establish trust and move them off the streets. Outreach teams may also perform wound care, distribute hygiene kits or snacks, and offer to obtain identification documents. Housing first programs have proven effective in addressing homelessness for chronically homeless individuals, including those who have an addiction, mental illness, or both.

The legislature recognizes that the success of housing first programs is attributable to its principles, which include:

(1) Moving chronically homeless individuals into housing directly from the streets and shelters without a precondition of accepting or complying with treatment;

(2) Providing robust support services for program participants that are predicated on assertive engagement rather than coercion;

(3) Granting chronically homeless individuals priority as program participants in housing first programs;

(4) Embracing a harm reduction approach to addictions rather than mandating abstinence while supporting program participant commitments to recovery; and

(5) Providing program participants with leases and tenant protections as provided by law.

The legislature finds that, while costly, housing first programs are cost-effective. Providing housing and services under the housing first program is less costly than the alternative of providing emergency services and other necessary services for unhoused chronically homeless persons.

The legislature further finds that the State's efforts to combat homelessness would be enhanced by establishing an "ohana zones" program to provide housing to homeless individuals and families based on principles similar to housing first, but with more flexibility that allows for a higher degree of utilization.

The legislature also finds that rapid rehousing and the State's rent supplement program have proven effective in securing and maintaining housing for working homeless individuals and families. A significant segment of the homeless population has a stable source of income and only requires modest financial help and some housing stabilization services instead of full-scale subsidies and intensive, ongoing case management. More than a quarter of Hawaii households fall into homelessness simply because they lack money to pay rent, but they have no other underlying issues. For these individuals and families, a small subsidy may allow them to rapidly move out of shelters and into permanent homes. Rapid rehousing provides struggling households with a one-time payment to cover delinquent rent, utility payments, or first month's rent and security deposit. This one-time financial intervention is often all that families need to avoid homelessness or quickly bounce back from becoming homeless. In contrast, the State's rent supplement program provides a shallow but sustained subsidy to struggling households. Unlike the deep subsidy section 8 housing choice voucher program, which helps families at the lowest end of the income scale by bridging a wide affordability gap between income and housing costs, the State's rent supplement program helps households that are closer to financial self-sufficiency but that still have a narrow affordability gap to fill. The program provides a small time-limited subsidy that wards off homelessness while providing time for families to close the affordability gap and achieve self-sufficiency. Financial case management and counseling are critical to stabilizing these families for future sustainability in permanent housing. Because individual subsidies under the rapid rehousing and state rent supplement programs are relatively low, the programs may resolve homelessness for a large number of individuals and families relative to the total cost of the subsidy program.

Additionally, the legislature finds that the family assessment center, which was opened on Oahu in September 2016, has achieved extraordinary results over its first year of operation. Out of fifty-four households served, ninety-one per cent were successfully housed. The assessment center offers comprehensive services including benefit reviews and determinations, health assessments, service coordination, and housing placement. This proven model can be replicated on the neighbor islands as an effective way to move families with children rapidly to permanent housing. For example, on the island of Hawaii, a large parcel of land has been set aside to develop housing solutions for homelessness in Kona, where the need for localized services is particularly acute.

Finally, to adequately address homelessness, the legislature recognizes that Hawaii needs to disrupt the ineffective, destructive, and expensive cycle of substance abuse addiction that leads to homelessness, arrest, incarceration, release, and a return to addiction and living on the streets. The law enforcement assisted diversion program is a pre-booking diversion program that grants police officers the discretionary authority to redirect low-level offenders, who are typically drug-involved and homeless, to case managers if the offender consents to being assisted.

The purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Establish within the department of human services an ohana zones program to provide housing to homeless individuals and families based on principles similar to the housing first program; and

(2) Appropriate moneys to the Hawaii public housing authority, department of human services, and department of health to support the State's most effective efforts to end homelessness, including public housing improvements, housing first, rapid rehousing, housing homeless children pilot program, outreach services, the law enforcement assisted diversion program and civil legal services, Oahu's family assessment center, and the establishment of the emergency department homelessness assessment pilot program and medical respite pilot program.

SECTION 2. (a) There is established within the department of human services an ohana zones program to provide housing to homeless individuals and families based on principles similar to the housing first program. The number and locations of the ohana zones shall be determined by the department.

(b) The department of human services shall develop and implement the ohana zones program, which, at a minimum, shall provide the following facilities and services at each ohana zone site:

(1) Secure dwelling spaces that:

(A) May be private or communal;

(B) Have access to toilets, showers, and other hygiene facilities; and

provided that if newly constructed or substantially rehabilitated, the cost of these dwelling spaces shall not exceed $15,000, and no less than fifty per cent of the materials and supplies for these dwelling spaces shall be purchased in-state;

(2) Medical and social support services, which shall be onsite to the extent practicable;

(3) Onsite childcare;

(4) Transportation to school, employment, and any appointments related to medical care or supportive services that are not available onsite; and

(5) Any other facilities or services necessary to make the ohana zone site a suitable destination to which:

(A) Hospitals may directly discharge qualified patients; and

(B) Law enforcement agencies may divert, in lieu of arrest, persons apprehended during "sweeps" of homeless encampments.

(c) The department of human services shall coordinate with public or private entities, as appropriate, to develop and implement the ohana zones program.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2018-2019 for the establishment of the ohana zones program and expenses related to facility construction, provision of services, staffing, and administrative costs.