By CATHY BUSSEWITZ ADVERTISING By CATHY BUSSEWITZ Associated Press HONOLULU — A House panel passed a bill to provide more affordable housing for working families and Hawaii’s most vulnerable, calling for general obligation bonds that would be used to develop
By CATHY BUSSEWITZ
Associated Press
HONOLULU — A House panel passed a bill to provide more affordable housing for working families and Hawaii’s most vulnerable, calling for general obligation bonds that would be used to develop homes including micro-housing units.
The bill has broad support from business and nonprofit groups and was passed Monday by the House Committee on Housing. Hawaii needs about 50,000 homes to be built by 2016 to meet demand, according to a state report.
“That’s why our real estate prices are skyrocketing, because of the extreme shortage, so hopefully this will alleviate some of that pressure,” said Rep. Mark Hashem, chairman of the House Committee on Housing.
Statewide, 30 percent of households were considered doubled up or crowded, based on Census definitions, according to a 2011 Hawaii housing planning study.
“We are catching up to decades of neglect of housing,” said
Rev. Bob Nakata, co-chairman for the FACE Housing Task Force.
“Public housing has not been built nationally for several decades.”
The bill calls for authorization of general obligation bonds for the rental housing trust fund, which provides low-interest loans or grants to qualified owners or developers of affordable housing.
Hashem suggested authorizing $100 million in bonds for the rental housing trust fund.
The suggested dollar amounts were added to the committee’s report instead of amendments to the bill. Hashem also suggested $20 million for the dwelling unit revolving fund, which can be used for housing and infrastructure development.
The bill, SB 120, also calls for development of micro apartment housing units, which would be 220-320 square feet and house up to two people.
Units would have a closet, kitchen sink, cooking appliances, refrigerator and separate bathroom with a toilet and bathtub or
shower.
The committee suggested $15 million in bonds for the micro-units.
They also suggested $3 million for the state’s Housing First program, which aims to move chronically homeless people directly into homes from streets and shelters without preconditions.
