Bill Text: HI HB784 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Rental Housing Trust Fund; Repair and Maintenance

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-01-24 - (H) Referred to HSG, FIN, referral sheet 1 [HB784 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2011-HB784-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	784
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO RENTAL HOUSING.

 

 

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

 

     SECTION 1.  The purpose of this Act is to expand the authorized use of moneys in the rental housing trust fund in order to provide increased job opportunities.

     The legislature finds that the revitalization of the economy of the State requires programs to promote immediate employment.  The current state budget crisis, however, precludes the establishment of counter-cyclical jobs programs because of the lack of available general funds.  Moreover, enactment of tax credits intended to promote employment may not produce immediate results.  Consequently, the legislature finds that an imaginative approach must be used instead of reliance on the general fund or tax credits.

     The legislature finds that the rental housing trust fund has a sizeable balance that may be used as a source of funding to promote immediate employment.  To use the trust fund for that purpose, however, requires amendments to the enabling statutes.

     SECTION 2.  Section 201H-202, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§201H-202  Rental housing trust fund.  (a)  There is established the rental housing trust fund to be administered by the corporation.

     (b)  An amount from the fund, to be set by the corporation and authorized by the legislature, may be used for administrative expenses incurred by the corporation in administering the fund; provided that fund moneys may not be used to finance day-to-day administrative expenses of projects allotted fund moneys.

     (c)  The following may be deposited into the fund: appropriations made by the legislature, private contributions, repayment of loans, interest, other returns, and moneys from other sources.

     (d)  The fund shall be used to provide loans or grants for the development, pre-development, construction, acquisition, preservation, and substantial rehabilitation of rental housing units.  Permitted uses of the fund may include but are not limited to planning, design, land acquisition, costs of options, agreements of sale, downpayments, equity financing, capacity building of nonprofit housing developers, or other housing development services or activities as provided in rules adopted by the corporation pursuant to chapter 91.  The rules may provide for a means of recapturing loans or grants made from the fund if a rental housing project financed under the fund is refinanced or sold at a later date.  The rules may also provide that moneys from the fund shall be leveraged with other financial resources to the extent possible.

     For the fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, the fund also may be used to provide grants to repair and maintain rental housing projects through private contracts.  Projects, grants for which are awarded, shall be guided by the order of priority pursuant to subsection (e).

     (e)  Moneys available in the fund shall be used for the purpose of providing, in whole or in part, loans or grants for rental housing projects in the following order of priority:

     (1)  Projects or units in projects that are allocated low‑income housing credits pursuant to the state housing credit ceiling under section 42(h) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or projects or units in projects that are funded by programs of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development wherein:

         (A)  At least fifty per cent of the available units are for persons and families with incomes at or below eighty per cent of the median family income of which at least five per cent of the available units are for persons and families with incomes at or below thirty per cent of the median family income; and

         (B)  The remaining units are for persons and families with incomes at or below one hundred per cent of the median family income;

          provided that the corporation may establish rules to ensure full occupancy of fund projects; and

     (2)  Mixed-income rental projects or units in a mixed‑income rental project wherein all of the available units are for persons and families with incomes at or below one hundred forty per cent of the median family income.

     (f)  The corporation shall submit an annual report to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session describing the projects funded and, with respect to rental housing projects targeted for persons and families with incomes at or below thirty per cent of the median family income, its efforts to develop those rental housing projects, a description of proposals submitted for this target group and action taken on the proposals, and any barriers to developing housing units for this target group.

     (g)  For the purposes of this subpart, the applicable median family income shall be the median family income for the county or standard metropolitan statistical area in which the project is located as determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, as adjusted from time to time.

     (h)  The corporation may provide loans and grants under this section; provided that the corporation shall establish loan-to-value ratios to protect the fund from inordinate risk and that under no circumstances shall the rules permit the loan‑to-value ratio to exceed one hundred per cent; and provided further that the underwriting guidelines include a debt-coverage ratio of not less than 1.0 to 1.

     [(i)  For the period commencing July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2009, the fund may be used to provide grants for rental units set aside for persons and families with incomes at or below thirty per cent of the median family income in any project financed in whole or in part by the fund in proportion of those units to the total number of units in the project.  At the conclusion of the period described in this subsection, the corporation shall report to the legislature on the number and use of grants provided and whether the grants were an effective use of the funds for purposes of developing rental housing for families at or below thirty per cent of the median family income.]"

     SECTION 3.  Section 201H-203, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "[[]§201H-203[]]  Eligible applicants for funds.  Eligible applicants for funds shall include nonprofit and for-profit organizations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and government agencies, who are qualified in accordance with rules adopted by the corporation pursuant to chapter 91.  For the fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2013-2013, eligible applicants for funds shall also include sole proprietorships and corporations who are qualified in accordance with rules adopted by the corporation pursuant to chapter 91."

     SECTION 4.  Section 201H-204, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsections (a) and (b) to read as follows:

     "(a)  Activities eligible for assistance from the fund shall include but not be limited to:

     (1)  New construction, rehabilitation, or preservation of low-income rental housing units that meet the criteria for eligibility described in subsection (c);

     (2)  The leveraging of moneys with the use of fund assets;

     (3)  Pre-development activity grants or loans to nonprofit organizations; [and]

     (4)  Acquisition of housing units for the purpose of preservation as low-income or very low-income housing[.]; and

     (5)  For the fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, the repair and maintenance of rental housing projects through private contracts.

     (b)  Preference shall be given to projects producing units in at least one of the following categories:

     (1)  Multifamily units;

     (2)  Attached single-family units;

     (3)  Apartments;

     (4)  Townhouses;

     (5)  Housing units above commercial or industrial space;

     (6)  Single room occupancy units;

     (7)  Accessory apartment units;

     (8)  Employee housing;

     (9)  United States Department of Housing and Urban Development mixed finance development of public housing units; and

    (10)  Other types of units meeting the criteria for eligibility set forth in subsection (c).

     For the fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, however, preference shall be given to the repair and maintenance of rental housing projects through private contracts."

     SECTION 5.  There is appropriated out of the rental housing trust fund the sum of $           or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2011-2012 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2012-2013 for the repair and maintenance of rental housing projects through private contracts.

     The sums appropriated shall be expended by the Hawaii housing finance and development corporation for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 6.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 7.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2011.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

Report Title:

Rental Housing Trust Fund; Repair and Maintenance

 

Description:

Allows the moneys in the rental housing trust fund to be used for the repair and maintenance of rental housing projects through private contracts for fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013.  Appropriation.

 

 

 

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