§356D-144 - Powers and duties. - Hawaii Statutes

     [§356D-144]  Powers and duties.  (a)  The authority may contract with private sector agencies to carry out the duties and responsibilities of the program.

     Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, any contracts entered into by the authority with a private sector agency pursuant to this subsection shall not be subject to chapters 76 and 89.

     (b)  The duties of the authority or contracted agency shall include:

     (1)  Carrying out the requirements of the Hale Kokua program under this subpart;

     (2)  Developing and adopting the requirements, eligibility, registration, background check, initial screening procedures, and procedures for follow-up after placement to determine the ability to make rental payments and the need for social services and referrals for homeless families and individuals to qualify them as tenants under this program;

     (3)  Developing and adopting the requirements, qualifications, and registration procedures for property owners who provide rental housing to qualified homeless tenants; provided that priority shall be given to those not requesting construction grants;

     (4)  Developing appropriate procedures to address potential liabilities of the State;

     (5)  Adopting procedures to place qualified homeless tenants with property owners participating in the program.  Participating property owners shall interview and make final tenant selection from lists of prospective tenants compiled by the authority or the contracted agency;

     (6)  Establishing the procedures and requirements for the disbursement of building improvement grants and rental subsidies and the amounts thereof to property owners participating in the program;

     (7)  Working with the counties to develop and propose uniform incentives to encourage and facilitate the participation of property owners, including real property tax waivers or reductions, and exemptions in zoning or building code requirements which shall be conditioned on participation in the program and which shall lapse when program participation ends;

     (8)  Monitoring the financial status and progress of homeless tenants and cooperating with other agencies in establishing and coordinating job training and other programs to help tenants to progress toward self-sufficiency;

     (9)  Promoting and assisting in the development of employer-employee relationships between homeless tenants and participating property owners, including but not limited to tenant caretaker, housekeeper, or groundskeeper employment situations;

    (10)  Working towards securing financial, in-kind, and administrative assistance from law enforcement and other state and county agencies and the private sector to implement the program;

    (11)  Working towards securing funding assistance from federal agencies and programs involved in housing development, job-training, or homeless assistance;

    (12)  Monitoring the progress of the Hale Kokua program, and collecting annual statistics showing the numbers of homeless people, homeless families, and homeless children, using appropriate measurement systems; and

    (13)  Preparing recommendations to improve and expand the program, including but not limited to incentives for participating property owners to sign up for additional terms. [L 2006, c 180, pt of §2]