Bill Text: HI SB947 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Homeless Services

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-12-01 - Carried over to 2012 Regular Session. [SB947 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-SB947-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 215

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 947

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 947 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAMS OFFICE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to restore funding to the Homeless Programs Office of the Department of Human Services.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, Partners In Care, Waianae Community Outreach, Catholic Charities Hawai‘i, Chancery Office of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, St. Stephen Diocesan Center, and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that homelessness is the resulting condition of Hawaii's most vulnerable.  Your Committee further finds that according to a 2010 report, some 13,886 adults and children in Hawaii experienced homelessness.  This represents a three percent increase from a year ago.

 

     Your Committee also finds that the Homeless Programs Office provides services that are critical to the homeless safety net, including developing programs and transitional facilities, providing shelter and social services, providing policy direction for homeless programs, including implementation of the statewide continuum of care, and integrating federal grant resources with state resources to provide that continuum of care.

     Your Committee further finds that a lack of resources has severely limited the ability of the Homeless Programs Office to meet the needs of the growing homeless population.  Last fiscal year, it lost over half of its positions due to a reduction-in-force and its operating budget was reduced by millions of dollars, despite the temporary benefit of federal stimulus funds.

 

     Your Committee additionally finds that the Homeless Programs Office is now working with a staff of three.  Although some functions have been successfully outsourced to avoid default with federal requirements, which would trigger a loss of federal funds, the Homeless Programs Office is barely sustaining itself operationally and financially.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Homeless Programs Office is seeking restoration and funding of three additional positions-one Office Assistant III and two Homeless Programs Specialists.  Funding for the Office Assistant III position is $27,756 annually.  Funding for each Homeless Programs Specialist would be $43,824 annually.  The total amount for the three positions is $115,404 annually, and your Committee recommends an appropriation for this total amount to allow the office to continue its vital operations.

 

     Your Committee notes that $3,113,596 is also needed for ongoing operations of existing shelters, plus two new shelters in Kona.  Homeless numbers on the island of Hawaii have been growing and only one shelter in Hilo is currently available.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 947 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,

 

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair