Bill Text: HI SR24 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requesting The Counties To Exempt Tiny Houses From Certain Requirements On Agricultural Lands.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-09 - Referred to PSM/AEN/HOU, WAM. [SR24 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2017-SR24-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	24
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the counties to exempt tiny houses from certain requirements on agricultural lands.

 

 

     WHEREAS, there is an immediate and critical need to increase the availability of housing in the State; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State has an extremely high cost of living, and housing is one of the most challenging issues that local residents face; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to the Honolulu Board of REALTORS, the median sales price for August 2016 for a single family home was $747,500 and $398,000 for a condominium; and

 

     WHEREAS, at these prices, it is nearly impossible for the average local resident to afford such a home; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to the 2011 Hawaii Housing Planning Study, as many as 50,000 new housing units need to be built between 2012 and 2016 to meet new demand generated by changing demographic and economic conditions; and

 

     WHEREAS, of these needed housing units, more than 6,000 would need to be ownership units and 13,000 would need to be rental units for households earning less than 80 percent of the area median income; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State needs to find innovative solutions, such as allowing the construction of tiny houses on agricultural lands, for providing the construction of new housing; and

 

     WHEREAS, tiny houses are homes between one hundred and four hundred square feet that enable simpler living in a smaller, more efficient space; and

 

     WHEREAS, other types of housing, including farm dwellings and employee housing, are allowed on agricultural lands, and agricultural lands are capable of supporting tiny houses; and

 

     WHEREAS, providing less obstacles for the construction of tiny houses on agricultural lands may help to alleviate the housing shortage in the State; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2017, that the counties are requested to exempt tiny houses from zoning and sewage requirements on agricultural lands; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the counties are requested to prohibit the use of tiny houses on agricultural lands as vacation rentals; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor and City Council of the City and County of Honolulu, Mayor and County Council of Hawaii County, Mayor and County Council of Maui County, and Mayor and County Council of Kauai County.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Tiny Houses; Agricultural Lands; Counties; Exemptions