Bill Text: HI SCR18 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Hawaiian Home Lands To Build Alternative Housing Options For Lessees.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-02-12 - The committee on HWN deferred the measure. [SCR18 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2019-SCR18-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	18
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging the department of hawaiian home lands to build alternative housing options for lessees.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended, provides the legal basis for the establishment of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands provides direct benefits to native Hawaiians in the form of homestead leases granted for residential, agricultural, pastoral, or aquacultural purposes at an annual rental rate of $1; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1990, these homestead leases were extended from ninety-nine years to an aggregate term not to exceed one hundred ninety-nine years; and

 

     WHEREAS, the intent of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands' homesteading program is to support the economic self-sufficiency of native Hawaiians through the provision of land; and

 

     WHEREAS, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands banking accounts currently contain more than $38,000,000 in federal moneys intended for homestead housing; and

 

     WHEREAS, more than twenty thousand eligible beneficiaries are on the waiting list for residential homesteads, and many have been on the list for decades; and

 

     WHEREAS, only about two hundred eligible beneficiaries receive homestead leases, including residential leases, each year; and

 

     WHEREAS, some eligible beneficiaries on the waiting list for residential homesteads are not financially able to obtain a mortgage in order to accept a homestead lease; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands could most efficiently and effectively meet its nearly century-old responsibility to provide residential homestead leases by providing alternative housing options, including those that do not require eligible beneficiaries to first qualify for a mortgage; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, urges the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to provide alternative housing options for lessees; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that alternative housing options should include but not be limited to single family, multi-family, plantation, farm, rental, kupuna, and disabled housing, as well as apartments and rent-to-own programs; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in addition to alternative housing options, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands should include community centers, wellness centers, commercial centers, and industrial centers in its development plans; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Chair of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, and Chair of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Urging the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to Build Alternative Housing Options for Lessees