Bill Text: HI SCR55 | 2023 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Urging Hawaii's Congressional Delegation To Introduce And Support Legislation To Amend Title Iv-a Of The Social Security Act To Allow Unspent Temporary Assistance For Needy Families Funds To Be Used By States To Build Transitional Supportive Housing And Affordable Rental Housing.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-05-22 - Certified copies of resolutions sent. [SCR55 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2023-SCR55-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
55 |
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THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
URGING HAWAII'S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO INTRODUCE AND SUPPORT LEGISLATION TO AMEND TITLE IV-A OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT TO ALLOW unspent Temporary assistance for needy familIES funds to be used by STATES TO BUILD TRANSITIONAL SUPPORTIVE HOUSING AND AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING
WHEREAS, as of 2020, Hawaii has collected more than $380,000,000 in unspent Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant funds, which is three hundred eighty-five percent of the State's annual TANF block grant of $99,000,000; and
WHEREAS, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Hawaii's unspent TANF reserves are the second highest in the nation as a proportion of states' annual block grants; and
WHEREAS, Hawaii has one of the highest rates of homelessness in the nation; and
WHEREAS, Hawaii has the least affordable rental housing in the nation; and
WHEREAS, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's 2022 "Out of Reach" report, an individual would need to earn $31.15 an hour to afford a one-bedroom apartment in Hawaii; and
WHEREAS, a minimum wage worker would need to work one hundred twenty-three hours a week to be able to afford a one-bedroom apartment at fair market rent; and
WHEREAS, although TANF funds can be used to provide rent subsidies, such subsidies are meant to be used on a short-term basis; and
WHEREAS, developing a more robust inventory of affordable rental units will reduce rents statewide and enable more of the State's low-income families to be able to afford housing; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the House of Representatives concurring, that Hawaii's congressional delegation is urged to introduce and support legislation to amend Title IV-A of the Social Security Act to allow unspent Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds to be redirected to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to be used by states to build transitional supportive housing and affordable rental housing; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to each member of Hawaii's congressional delegation.
TANF Funds; Transitional Supportive Housing; Affordable Rental Housing
