Bill Text: HI HB613 | 2025 | Regular Session | Amended

Hawaii House Bill 613

Bill Title: Relating To Homeless Youth.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-21 - Bill scheduled to be heard by FIN on Monday, 02-24-25 12:00PM in House conference room 308 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE. [HB613 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2025-HB613-Amended.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	613
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO HOMELESS YOUTH.

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

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that one in ten young adults who are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five years, and at least one in thirty adolescents between the ages of thirteen and seventeen, experience some form of homelessness in which the young adult or adolescent is unaccompanied by a parent or guardian over the course of a year.

The legislature further finds that among homeless youth, sixty-nine per cent report mental health problems; thirty-three per cent have once been part of the foster care system; and fifty per cent have been in the juvenile justice system, in jail or detention. Moreover, sixty-two per cent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (LGBTQ+) youth report being physically harmed while experiencing homelessness, while forty-seven per cent of non-LGBTQ+ youth reported being physically harmed while homeless.

The legislature also finds that runaway and homeless youth are vulnerable to multiple threats, including having unmet basic food and shelter needs, untreated mental health disorders, substance use, significant disruption to their education, sexually transmitted diseases and human immunodeficiency virus infection, sexual exploitation, physical victimization, and suicide. The legislature recognizes that existing resources for outreach and shelter options are limited as unaccompanied homeless youth tend to be an underserved and neglected population.

The legislature additionally finds that Act 130, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022 (Act 130), established a safe spaces for youth pilot program within the department of human services. According to the National Network for Youth, communities with established safe spaces for homeless youth, like the program established by Act 130, report higher success rates in terms of improved housing stability, increased school enrollment, and a reduction in risky behaviors. The legislature notes that Act 130 is scheduled to be repealed on June 30, 2025. In light of its success, the office of youth services has worked on planning and developing the safe spaces for youth pilot program and, with appropriations, recommends the pilot program become permanent, and is ready to open the first state-funded shelter for young adults on the island of Hawaii.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Make the safe spaces for youth pilot program a permanent program within the office of youth services; and

(2) Provide funding for a permanent safe spaces for youth program in the office of youth services.

SECTION 2. Chapter 352D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§352D- Safe spaces for youth program. (a) There is established within the office of youth services a safe spaces for youth program, which shall provide, subject to the availability of funds, safe spaces in each county for youth and young adults experiencing or at risk for homelessness.

(b) The program shall collaborate with all departments of the State and its political subdivisions that offer services for the purpose of ensuring the well-being of youth and young adults in Hawaii, including the department of education, department of corrections and rehabilitation, department of health, department of human services, department of land and natural resources, department of law enforcement, state office on homelessness and housing solutions, county police departments and other agencies, and judiciary, to coordinate the identification of youth and young adults who are experiencing homelessness or at risk for homelessness and placement of these youth and young adults at a shelter for homeless youth or young adults.

(c) The office of youth services may enter into contracts with nonprofit organizations to provide services for youth or young adults experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness. Any nonprofit organization contracted under this subsection shall have the knowledge, experience, and qualifications, including licenses as needed for child caring institutions, and other requirements to operate a shelter for youth or young adults at risk of homelessness or who are experiencing homelessness. Youth under the age of eighteen shall not be sheltered with young adults eighteen to twenty-four.

(d) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, a shelter for homeless youth contracted under subsection (c) may admit a youth into the shelter's care for up to ninety days without the consent of the youth's parent or guardian.

(e) The office shall submit a report pertaining to the safe spaces for youth program to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session.

(f) The office may adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

(g) For the purposes of this section, "shelter for homeless youth" means a facility that operates to receive youth or young adults twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and provides youth or young adults with services, including:

(1) Overnight lodging and supervision;

(2) Hot meals and hot showers;

(3) Access to medical and behavioral health services; and

(4) Education and employment support."

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 2025-2026 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2026-2027 for a permanent safe spaces for youth program within the office of youth services.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of human services for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 3000.

Report Title:

Safe Spaces for Youth; Permanent; Office of Youth Services; Department of Human Services; Appropriation

Description:

Makes the Safe Spaces for Youth Pilot Program permanent within the Office of Youth Services. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.