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Shell Bill: $300M funding proposed for Hawaii low-income rental housing
SA: … Some influential Hawaii lawmakers want to make a historic investment in a state program that helps finance private development of low-income rental housing.
Members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee have proposed giving $300 million to a state agency that helps developers produce affordable homes.
The deposit would be made to the Rental Housing Revolving Fund of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., which has received $25 million to $50 million appropriations from the Legislature in recent years and a record $200 million in 2018.
The current proposed contribution would help finance construction of 1,938 new affordable rental homes and rehabilitation of 800 rentals, according to the committee.
HHFDC’s rental housing fund must be used for housing that serves households earning no more than 80% of a county’s median income, including at least 5% of units in a project reserved for households earning no more than 30% of the median income….
Last year, HHFDC awarded $83 million from the fund to help finance 512 homes for seven developers who were among 16 applicants that sought $269 million from the fund to help finance 2,200 homes.
($83M/512 = $162K per home)
The $200 million appropriation from 2018 is helping produce 1,600 affordable rentals….
($200M/1,600 = $125K per unit)
This year, House Bill 1748 was introduced to provide money for the fund, though no dollar amount was specified. After being advanced by two committees following public hearings, the full House passed the measure on March 4 in a 46-0 vote that sent the bill to the Senate for consideration.
An identical bill was introduced in the Senate. This measure, Senate Bill 2155, never received a hearing. But Senate Ways and Means voted on March 3 to amend a different bill having to do with vacant state land assessments as a vehicle to provide $300 million for HHFDC’s rental housing fund.
The (shell bill) land assessment measure, SB 2372, received no public hearing on the subject of rental housing financing. But the House bill received supportive testimony….
read … Record funding proposed for Hawaii low-income rental housing
Millions in proposed funding sparks new interest in Hawaiian Home Lands
SA: … The potential for the single-greatest infusion of funding to reduce the waitlist of Native Hawaiians hoping to get on ancestral lands has resulted in a five-fold increase in applications to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands over just the past month.
DHHL typically receives three to four requests for applications per day, but the number skyrocketed to 20 per day beginning a month ago, DHHL spokesperson Cedric Duarte told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
The state Senate Committee on Hawaiian Affairs today is scheduled to hear the latest version of House Bill 2511 that would pump more than $600 million into DHHL to speed up the development of lots to help clear the waitlist of 28,700 Native Hawaiian beneficiaries….
read … Millions in proposed funding sparks new interest in Hawaiian Home Lands
HPD: Officers involved in near-fatal Makaha crash may face felony charges
HNN: … Vanic told commissioners that his department met with the City Prosecutor’s Office and “conferred an accidents involving death or serious bodily injury case, which is a B felony.”
The surveillance videos showed the chase lasted more than a mile.
At Orange Street in Makaha, the driver of the sedan lost control. At least one witness said the sedan was bumped by a police car before it spun out.
The officers are also accused of leaving the scene without rendering aid, returning only after the 911 calls were made….
CB: Honolulu Prosecutor Opens Independent Probe Into Police Involvement In Makaha Crash
read … HPD: Officers involved in near-fatal Makaha crash face felony charges
State To Pay $250,000 To Cover Lawyers’ Fees for Lawsuit Designed to Force-Release Lots and Lots of Criminals
CB: … Lawyers who sued the state alleging the correctional system botched the pandemic response in Hawaii’s prison and jails will be paid more than $250,000 in attorneys’ fees, according to a new filing by the state Attorney General’s Office.
The House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee gave tentative approval to Senate Bill 3041 on Tuesday, which would provide that money for lawyers’ fees to Honolulu attorney Eric Seitz and his associates.
The federal class-action lawsuit filed by Seitz and his team this past June alleged the response to the coronavirus pandemic was so inadequate that it violated the inmates’ constitutional rights.….
read … State To Pay $250,000 To Cover Lawyers’ Fees In Lawsuit Over Covid-19 In Hawaii Prisons
Homelessness is Expensive: DLNR says it needs over $13M to demolish abandoned Hilo hotel torched by squatters
HNN: … The state Department of Land and Natural Resources said it needs more than $13 million to tear down a Hilo hotel that’s been vacant for nearly 5 years.
The former Uncle Billy’s Hotel on Banyan Drive caught fire in February, causing $2 million in damage. Firefighters blamed the blaze on squatters who congregate in the abandoned hotel….
(Better Idea: Since DLNR is obviously unable to maintain property properly, DLNR should sell the property to a fee-simple buyer who will then demolish the smoldering hulk left behind by DLNR.)
OM: Hawaii Launches Services To Help Homeless Medicaid Beneficiaries Find Housing
read … DLNR says it needs over $13M to demolish abandoned Hilo hotel damaged by fire
Plan to stop rail construction at South Street puts several Kakaako properties in limbo
HNN: … The plan to stop the rail project at South Street rather than build it to Ala Moana Center has placed several rail properties in Kakaako in limbo.
Some have already been vacant for years.
“I look at our neighbors who lost their entire businesses and lost their entire properties and all this vacant land now that is down here,” said Steve Scott, CEO of Scott Hawaii.
Scott estimated that the rail system paid about $12 million for properties it condemned near Kona and Pensacola streets ― land which they now may not need.
“Honolulu Hardwoods was across the street. They closed up their shop,” said Scott. “Another business across the street was a pool supply company. They sold that property and moved out.” ….
HPR: City Council critic of the Honolulu rail praises proposal to stop before Ala Moana
KITV: More than 100 local businesses being displaced in Kakaako, some with nowhere to go
read … Plan to stop rail construction at South Street puts several Kakaako properties in limbo
Glasgow City Council bid to save Falls of Clyde ship receives major boost
TN: … FEARS that the historic Falls of Clyde ship might not be returning to her home country looked to be receding yesterday, when it was revealed that Glasgow City Council had begun talks with the group trying to save the vessel.
After reports that she could go to England or the Netherlands, David O’Neill of the Save The Falls of Clyde International (FOCI) told The National that constructive talks took place with the council last week and options under discussion include berthing her at Yorkhill Quay, or other suitable sites on the Clyde in Glasgow….
read … Glasgow City Council bid to save Falls of Clyde ship receives major boost
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