Bill Text: HI SCR143 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: HHFDC; Self-Help Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-19 - (S) The committee on EDH deferred the measure. [SCR143 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2010-SCR143-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	143
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the establishment of a self-help housing trust fund advisory board to prepare for the administration and operation of a self-help housing trust fund.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that self-help housing programs such as Habitat for Humanity and Hawaii Self-Help Housing offer low- and moderate-income families an opportunity to own their own homes by using "sweat equity" to build their homes; and

 

     WHEREAS, when families build their own homes their financial stability greatly improves, the children do better in school, and the families rarely move, which often provides increased employment opportunities; and

 

     WHEREAS, self-help housing is a hand up from circumstances that frequently lead to homelessness, and a number of self-help housing homeowners in Hawaii had been homeless prior to building their homes; and

 

     WHEREAS, although the State has opened many new shelters to address the rapid rise in homelessness, a common problem that remains is a lack of places where people can stay during their transition from a shelter or other transitional housing; and

 

     WHEREAS, self-help housing offers a dignified alternative to some of the families transitioning out of homelessness and provides homeless prevention to families who are living in precarious circumstances; and

 

     WHEREAS, self-help housing is not only more cost effective than shelters or rental housing, but it also provides economic and community development in neighborhoods and is one of the best sources of asset building with very low-, low-, and moderate-income households; and

 

     WHEREAS, there are eight existing organizations in Hawaii that have assisted in building more than one thousand self-help homes:  Habitat for Humanity, Self-Help Housing Corporation of Hawaii, Hawaii Island Community Development Corporation, Hawaii Intergenerational Community Development Association, the Consuelo Foundation, Molokai Home Ownership Made E-ffordable Corporation, Hawaii County Economic Opportunity Council, and Lokahi Pacific; and

 

     WHEREAS, the average cost of a house built in Hawaii with the self-help method varies by program but generally falls in the range of $80,000 to $110,000; and

 

     WHEREAS, self-help housing programs attempt to build as much as possible on leasehold land from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the State, or the counties; are sometimes offered land or money to buy land by developers who are required to meet a certain threshold of affordable homes; and may buy inexpensive lands when available; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that establishing a dedicated source of funding through a self-help housing trust fund would provide grant funding for technical assistance and construction materials and possibly grants or low- or zero-interest loans for predevelopment costs and the purchase of land to build on; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation is requested to establish a Self-Help Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board to prepare for the administration and operation of a self-help housing trust fund by:

 

     (1)  Identifying potential target groups and clientele to whom loans or grants should be made to promote the development of self-help housing in the State;

 

     (2)  Developing criteria for selecting recipients of grants and loans from the proposed self-help housing trust fund;

 

     (3)  Developing a process by which applications for grants and loans from the proposed self-help housing trust fund shall be made;

 

     (4)  Developing a process by which grant and loan applications shall be evaluated, awarded, and executed;

 

     (5)  Determining sustainable sources of funding for the proposed self-help housing trust fund; and

 

     (6)  Performing other tasks necessary to prepare for the administration and operation of the proposed self-help housing trust fund; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Self-Help Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board be composed of the following members:

 

     (1)  A representative of Habitat for Humanity;

 

     (2)  A representative of the Self-Help Housing Corporation of Hawaii;

 

     (3)  A representative of the Hawaii Island Community Development Corporation;

 

     (4)  A representative of the Hawaii Intergenerational Community Development Association;

 

     (5)  A representative of the Consuelo Foundation;

 

     (6)  A representative of the Molokai Home Ownership Made E‑ffordable Corporation;

 

     (7)  A representative of the Hawaii County Economic Opportunity Council;

 

     (8)  A representative of Lokahi Pacific;

 

     (9)  A representative of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation; and

 

    (10)  Two representatives selected by the other members of the Advisory Board to contribute their expertise to the Advisory Board; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Self-Help Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2011; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation provide administrative support to the Self-Help Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Self-Help Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board be dissolved upon the adjournment sine die of the 2011 Regular Session of the Legislature; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Executive Director of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, Habitat for Humanity, Self-Help Housing Corporation of Hawaii, Hawaii Island Community Development Corporation, Hawaii Intergenerational Community Development Association, the Consuelo Foundation, Molokai Home Ownership Made E-ffordable Corporation, Hawaii County Economic Opportunity Council, and Lokahi Pacific.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

HHFDC; Self-Help Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board