SB1283 establishes an Emergency Home Loan Assistance Revolving Fund within the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation (HHFDC) to provide short-term emergency loans to homeowners who are in default or at risk of default on their home loans. The bill is aimed at preserving homeownership and reducing the broader economic and community impacts of foreclosure by offering timely mortgage assistance to residents facing temporary financial hardship.
The fund may receive legislative appropriations, private contributions, loan repayments, and other moneys. Loans from the fund are capped at an amount equal to three regular monthly mortgage payments for the borrower’s home loan, and recipients must repay the loan in full. Repayment is due within 90 days after the home loan is satisfied or when the property is sold, whichever occurs first. The bill also requires HHFDC to adopt rules to implement the program and to report findings and recommendations to the Legislature before each regular session.
Impact
The bill would add a new section to chapter 201H, Hawaii Revised Statutes, creating a new state-administered revolving loan program for emergency mortgage assistance. It also appropriates general funds to capitalize the revolving fund and authorizes expenditures from the fund for loan issuance, thereby creating a new ongoing fiscal and administrative responsibility for HHFDC. The measure would affect homeowners facing foreclosure risk by providing a state-backed short-term loan option rather than a grant, with repayment obligations tied to the borrower’s mortgage term or property sale.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests the bill was received favorably in committee, passing the Senate Housing Committee 4-0 and without amendment. No committee transcript is available, but the unanimous vote indicates broad support for the concept of emergency housing assistance and foreclosure prevention. The bill’s framing emphasizes housing stability, community preservation, and economic resilience, which are typically associated with positive legislative sentiment.
Contention
No explicit opposition or debate is reflected in the available materials, but the main policy questions likely concern funding levels, program administration, and whether emergency assistance should be structured as a repayable loan rather than a grant. Potential points of concern include the adequacy of the three-month-payment cap, the requirement that borrowers repay the full amount, and the timing of repayment tied to mortgage satisfaction or sale of the property. Another likely issue is the fiscal impact of appropriating general revenues to seed the fund and whether the program will reach enough homeowners to justify the administrative costs.
A resolution to direct the Clerk of the House of Representatives to only present to the Governor enrolled House bills finally passed by both houses of the One Hundred Third Legislature.
Relating to nonsubstantive additions to, revisions of, and corrections in enacted codes, to the nonsubstantive codification or disposition of various laws omitted from enacted codes, and to conforming codifications enacted by the 88th Legislature to other Acts of that legislature.