Bill Text: HI SB866 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Affordable Housing.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-04-07 - The committee(s) on FIN recommend(s) that the measure be deferred. [SB866 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2021-SB866-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
866 |
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THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to affordable housing.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the State faces an unprecedented economic crisis due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has decimated Hawaii's economy and caused its gross domestic product to plummet. By some measures, Hawaii's economy has been hit harder than any other state in the nation.
The legislature also finds that this drastic decline in economic activity has disproportionately affected the State's most vulnerable populations. The pandemic forced the shutdown of many sectors of the State's economy, triggering mass layoffs and furloughs and causing the State's seasonally adjusted unemployment to surge from 2.4 per cent in March 2020 to a historical high of 22.3 per cent in April 2020. Despite efforts to reopen the economy, Hawaii still had the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation as of November 2020. With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to rage throughout the world, most countries experiencing recession, and visitor arrivals to the State not expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2024, the State will continue to feel the economic impacts of the pandemic for many years to come.
The legislature further finds that, even before the pandemic, renter households in the State already suffered from deleteriously high housing cost burdens, and that the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly exacerbated this situation. Recent data from the university of Hawaii economic research organization (UHERO) showed that more than eleven thousand Hawaii tenants have fallen behind on their rent payments and that forty per cent of rental tenants have lost their jobs. Modeling from UHERO indicates that up to seventeen thousand households may face an unsustainable change in their housing cost burden by the second quarter of 2021, even as the State's economy slowly recovers. Even in a best-case scenario, the number of individuals facing homelessness will continue to rise in the face of the pandemic. UHERO concluded that, from a policy standpoint, "doing nothing is not a viable option."
Accordingly, the legislature finds that it must take immediate action to mitigate the affordable housing crisis through legislation.
The purpose of this Act is to temporarily exempt affordable housing projects by the Hawaii housing finance and development corporation from specific state and county fees and exactions related to discretionary approval or ministerial permitting, except application fees payable to the Hawaii housing finance and development corporation; provided that the housing units are affordable to households having incomes at or below one hundred per cent of the area median family income as determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
SECTION 2. Section 201H-38, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§201H-38 Housing development; exemption from statutes,
ordinances, charter provisions, and rules.
(a) The corporation may develop on behalf of the
State or with an eligible developer, or may assist under a government
assistance program in the development of, housing projects that shall be exempt
from all statutes, ordinances, charter provisions, and rules of any government
agency relating to planning, zoning, construction standards for subdivisions,
development and improvement of land, and the construction of dwelling units
thereon; provided that:
(1) The
corporation finds the housing project is consistent with the purpose and intent
of this chapter, and meets minimum requirements of health and safety;
(2) The
development of the proposed housing project does not contravene any safety
standards, tariffs, or rates and fees approved by the public utilities
commission for public utilities or of the various boards of water supply
authorized under chapter 54;
(3) The
legislative body of the county in which the housing project is to be situated
shall have approved the project with or without modifications:
(A) The
legislative body shall approve, approve with modification, or disapprove the
project by resolution within forty-five days after the corporation has submitted
the preliminary plans and specifications for the project to the legislative
body. If on the forty-sixth day a
project is not disapproved, it shall be deemed approved by the legislative
body;
(B) No
action shall be prosecuted or maintained against any county, its officials, or
employees on account of actions taken by them in reviewing, approving,
modifying, or disapproving the plans and specifications; and
(C) The
final plans and specifications for the project shall be deemed approved by the
legislative body if the final plans and specifications do not substantially
deviate from the preliminary plans and specifications. The final plans and specifications for the
project shall constitute the zoning, building, construction, and subdivision
standards for that project. For purposes
of sections 501-85 and 502-17, the executive director of the corporation or the
responsible county official may certify maps and plans of lands connected with
the project as having complied with applicable laws and ordinances relating to
consolidation and subdivision of lands, and the maps and plans shall be
accepted for registration or recordation by the land court and registrar; and
(4) The
land use commission shall approve, approve with modification, or disapprove a
boundary change within forty-five days after the corporation has submitted a
petition to the commission as provided in section 205‑4. If, on the forty-sixth day, the petition is
not disapproved, it shall be deemed approved by the commission.
(b) Affordable housing projects developed pursuant
to this section shall be exempt from all state and county fees and exactions
related to discretionary approval or ministerial permitting relating to
planning, development, and improvement of land, and the construction of
dwelling units thereon; provided that the exemption under this subsection shall
not apply to fees and costs payable to the corporation; provided further that
the dwelling units developed as part of a fee-exempted affordable housing project
shall be affordable to households having incomes at or below one hundred per
cent of the area median family income as determined by the United States
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
[(b)] (c) For the purposes of this section, "government
assistance program" means a housing program qualified by the corporation
and administered or operated by the corporation or the United States or any of
their political subdivisions, agencies, or instrumentalities, corporate or
otherwise."
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that on June 30, 2027, this Act shall be repealed and section 201H-38, Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall be reenacted in the form in which it read on the day before the effective date of this Act.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation; Affordable Housing; State Fees
Description:
Temporarily exempts affordable housing projects from specific state and county fees and exactions related to discretionary approval or ministerial permitting, except application fees; provided that the units are affordable for households with incomes at or below 100% of the area median family income. Sunsets on 6/30/2027.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
