§46-15.1  Housing; county powers.  [Repealand reenactment on June 30, 2015. L 2009, c 141, §3]  (a)  Any lawto the contrary notwithstanding, any county shall have and may exercise thesame powers, subject to applicable limitations, as those granted the Hawaiihousing finance and development corporation pursuant to chapter 201H insofar asthose powers may be reasonably construed to be exercisable by a county for thepurpose of developing, constructing, and providing low- and moderate-incomehousing; provided that no county shall be empowered to cause the State to issuegeneral obligation bonds to finance a project pursuant to this section;provided further that county projects shall be granted an exemption fromgeneral excise or receipts taxes in the same manner as projects of the Hawaiihousing finance and development corporation pursuant to section 201H-36; andprovided further that section 201H-16 shall not apply to this section unlessfederal guidelines specifically provide local governments with that authorizationand the authorization does not conflict with any state laws.  The powers shallinclude the power, subject to applicable limitations, to:

(1)  Develop and construct dwelling units, alone or inpartnership with developers;

(2)  Acquire necessary land by lease, purchase,exchange, or eminent domain;

(3)  Provide assistance and aid to a public agency orother person in developing and constructing new housing and rehabilitatingexisting housing for elders of low- and moderate-income, other persons of low-and moderate-income, and persons displaced by any governmental action, bymaking long-term mortgage or interim construction loans available;

(4)  Contract with any eligible bidders to provide forconstruction of urgently needed housing for persons of low- andmoderate-income;

(5)  Guarantee the top twenty-five per cent of theprincipal balance of real property mortgage loans, plus interest thereon, madeto qualified borrowers by qualified lenders;

(6)  Enter into mortgage guarantee agreements with appropriateofficials of any agency or instrumentality of the United States to induce thoseofficials to commit to insure or to insure mortgages under the National HousingAct, as amended;

(7)  Make a direct loan to any qualified buyer for thedownpayment required by a private lender to be made by the borrower as acondition of obtaining a loan from the private lender in the purchase ofresidential property;

(8)  Provide funds for a share, not to exceed fiftyper cent, of the principal amount of a loan made to a qualified borrower by aprivate lender who is unable otherwise to lend the borrower sufficient funds atreasonable rates in the purchase of residential property; and

(9)  Sell or lease completed dwelling units.

For purposes of this section, a limitation isapplicable to the extent that it may reasonably be construed to apply to acounty.

(b)  Each county shall issue affordable housingcredits to the department of Hawaiian home lands with respect to existing andfuture Hawaiian home lands projects upon a request for such credits by thedepartment of Hawaiian home lands.  The credits shall be transferable and shallbe issued on a one-unit for one-unit basis.  The credits may be appliedcounty-wide within the same county in which the credits were earned to satisfyaffordable housing obligations imposed by the county on market pricedresidential and non-residential developments.

(c)  Any law to the contrary notwithstanding,any county may:

(1)  Authorize and issue bonds under chapter 47 andchapter 49 to provide moneys to carry out the purposes of this section orsection 46-15.2, including the satisfaction of any guarantees made by thecounty pursuant to this section;

(2)  Appropriate moneys of the county to carry out thepurposes of this section;

(3)  Obtain insurance and guarantees from the State orthe United States, or subsidies from either;

(4)  Designate, after holding a public hearing on thematter and with the approval of the respective council, any lands owned by itfor the purposes of this section;

(5)  Provide interim construction loans topartnerships of which it is a partner and to developers whose projects qualifyfor federally assisted project mortgage insurance, or other similar programs offederal assistance for persons of low and moderate income; and

(6)  Adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 as arenecessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

(d)  The provisions of this section shall beconstrued liberally so as to effectuate the purpose of this section infacilitating the development, construction, and provision of low- andmoderate-income housing by the various counties.

(e)  For purposes of this section, "lowand moderate income housing" means any housing project that meets thedefinition of "low- and moderate-income housing project" in section39A-281. [L 1974, c 179, §2; am L 1977, c 207, §2; am L 1980, c 190, §1; am L1981, c 39, §1; am L 1982, c 118, §1; am L 1987, c 80, §1 and c 337, §4; am L1989, c 69, §2; am L 1990, c 67, §8; am L 1997, c 350, §6; am L 2005, c 196,§26(b); am L 2006, c 180, §16; am L 2007, c 37, §1 and c 249, §8; am L 2009, c141, §1]

 

Note

 

  L 1997, c 350, §§14and 15 purport to amend this section.

 

Cross References

 

  Concurrentprocessing, see §46-15.7.

  Facilitatedapplication process, see §201-62.

 

Law Journals and Reviews

 

  The Scramble toProtect the American Dream in Paradise:  Is Affordable Housing Possible inHawaii?  10 HBJ No. 13, at pg. 37.