Read the full stored bill text
HB417
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
H.B. NO.
417
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating
to the rental housing revolving fund
.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
����
SECTION
1
.
�
Section 201H-202, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended to read as follows:
����
"
�201H-202
�
Rental housing revolving fund.
�
(a)
�
There is established the rental housing revolving fund to be
administered by the corporation.
����
(b)
�
An amount from the fund, to be set by the
corporation and authorized by the legislature, may be used for administrative
expenses incurred by the corporation in administering the corporation's housing
finance programs; provided that fund moneys shall not be used to finance
day-to-day administrative expenses of projects allotted fund moneys.
����
(c)
�
The following may be deposited into the
fund:
�
appropriations made by the
legislature, conveyance taxes pursuant to section 247-7, private contributions,
repayment of loans, interest, other returns, and moneys from other sources.
����
(d)
�
[
The
]
Except as provided in
subsection (f), the
fund shall be used to provide loans for the
development, pre-development, construction, acquisition, preservation, and
substantial rehabilitation of rental housing units.
�
The corporation shall not forgive any loan made
from the fund unless the corporation forecloses on the project.
�
Permitted uses of the fund may include but
are not limited to planning, design, land acquisition, costs of options,
agreements of sale, downpayments, equity financing, capacity building of
nonprofit housing developers, credit enhancement, gap financing, or other
housing development services or activities as provided in rules adopted by the
corporation pursuant to chapter 91.
�
The
rules may provide for a means of recapturing loans or grants made from the fund
if a rental housing project financed under the fund is refinanced or sold at a
later date.
�
The rules may also provide
that moneys from the fund shall be leveraged with other financial resources to
the extent possible.
����
(e)
�
[
Moneys
]
Except as provided in
subsection (f), moneys
available in the fund shall be used for the purpose
of providing, in whole or in part, loans for rental housing projects
demonstrating project readiness, efficiency, and feasibility acceptable to the
corporation in the following order of priority:
����
(1)
�
For projects that were awarded low-income
housing credits pursuant to paragraph (2), priority shall be given to p
rojects
with a perpetual affordability commitment;
����
(2)
�
Projects or units in projects that are
allocated low-income housing credits pursuant to the state housing credit
ceiling under section 42(h) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended,
or projects or units in projects that are funded by programs of the United
States Department of Housing and Urban Development and United States Department
of Agriculture Rural Development wherein:
���������
(A)
�
At least fifty per cent of the
available units are for persons and families with incomes at or below eighty
per cent of the median family income of which at least five per cent of the
available units are for persons and families with incomes at or below thirty
per cent of the median family income; and
���������
(B)
�
The remaining units are for persons and
families with incomes at or below one hundred per cent of the median family
income;
���������
provided
that the corporation may establish rules to ensure full occupancy of fund
projects; and
����
(3)
�
Mixed-income rental projects or units
in a mixed-income rental project wherein all of the available units are for
persons and families with incomes at or below one hundred forty per cent of the
median family income.
����
(f)
�
There is established within the fund a
housing efficiency and innovation subaccount that shall consist of revenues
from appropriations from the legislature.
�
The corporation may transfer
funds between the housing efficiency and innovation subaccount and the rental
housing revolving fund without requiring legislative approval.
�
Notwithstanding the order of priority established
in subsection (e), the subaccount revenues shall be:
����
(1)
�
Expended to make loans to housing
projects; provided that the units in the project shall be made available, for
sale or rent, exclusively to qualified residents as defined in section 201H-32;
provided further that priority shall be given to:
���������
(A)
�
Projects on land owned or developed
by the State or a county; and
���������
(B)
�
Projects that require the least
state funding per housing unit per year; and
����
(2)
�
Used to provide credit enhancement
to projects meeting the conditions of paragraph (1).
The
corporation shall establish an application process for subaccount revenues
allocation, separate from the fund allocation process pursuant to section
201H-204(c), that gives preference to projects meeting the criteria established
in this subsection.
�
The corporation may
include other criteria as it deems necessary to effectuate the purposes of this
subsection.
�
Moneys derived from the
repayment of loans funded by the subaccount, interest thereon, and related fees
and returns, shall be deposited into the subaccount.
����
[
(f)
]
(g)
�
There is established within
the fund a bond volume cap recycling program subaccount.
�
The bond volume cap recycling program
subaccount shall be maintained as a reserve for the bond volume cap recycling
program established pursuant to section 39B-2(f).
����
[
(g)
]
(h)
�
The corporation shall submit
an annual report to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the
convening of each regular session describing the projects funded and, with
respect to rental housing projects targeted for persons and families with
incomes at or below thirty per cent of the median family income, its efforts to
develop those rental housing projects, a description of proposals submitted for
this target group and action taken on the proposals, and any barriers to
developing housing units for this target group.
����
[
(h)
]
(i)
�
For the purposes of this
subpart, the applicable median family income shall be the median family income
for the county or standard metropolitan statistical area in which the project
is located as determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development, as adjusted from time to time.
����
[
(i)
]
(j)
�
The corporation may provide
loans under this section; provided that the corporation shall establish
loan-to-value ratios to protect the fund from inordinate risk and that under no
circumstances shall the rules permit the loan-to-value ratio to exceed one
hundred per cent; provided further that the underwriting guidelines include a
debt-coverage ratio of no less than 1.0 to 1.
����
[
(j)
]
(k)
�
For the period commencing
July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2009, the fund may be used to provide grants for
rental units set aside for persons and families with incomes at or below thirty
per cent of the median family income in any project financed in whole or in
part by the fund in proportion of those units to the total number of units in
the project.
�
At the conclusion of the
period described in this subsection, the corporation shall report to the
legislature on the number and use of grants provided and whether the grants
were an effective use of the funds for purposes of developing rental housing
for families at or below thirty per cent of the median family income."
����
SECTION
2.
�
Statutory material to be repealed is
bracketed and stricken.
�
New statutory
material is underscored.
����
SECTION
3.
�
This Act shall take effect upon its
approval.
INTRODUCED BY:
_____________________________
Report Title:
HHFDC; RHRF;
Housing Efficiency and Innovation Subaccount; Housing; Priorities
Description:
Establishes
the Housing Efficiency and Innovation Subaccount within the Rental Housing
Revolving Fund.
�
Specifies permissible uses
of funding and priorities.
�
Authorizes
the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to transfer funds between
the Housing Efficiency and Innovation Subaccount and the RHRF without
legislative approval.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.