Governor Josh Green has amended the recently signed Emergency Proclamation on Homelessness to expedite the construction of low-impact kauhale otherwise known as tiny home communities.
“We amended our homelessness emergency proclamation to reflect guardrails that will ensure we don’t have to choose between our kuleana to culture and land, and our responsibility to the people who are most vulnerable in our communities,” Dr. Green said in a release from his office. “My intention in signing the emergency proclamation was always to protect sacred sites, iwi kūpuna and the environment – while building kauhale and working towards aggressively ending chronic homelessness and unsheltered suffering statewide. To do this, we must take bold but thoughtful action.”
According to the release, previous proclamations lacked regulations on how projects would qualify and guidelines on basic considerations like life-safety, the environment and culture. Otherwise, the initial emergency proclamation signed during his State of the State Address Monday reflects the language of proclamations in effect from 2015 to 2020. These allowed for expedited construction of kauhale – including Pu‘uhonua o Wai‘anae – a project that had full community backing.
“The governor has amended the proclamation to make it clear that this process is required, and his administration is crafting rules to outline how that process will work,” James Koshiba, the governor’s coordinator on homelessness, said in the release. “The proclamation does not signal a free-for-all, for developers. Construction projects designed to serve and house the houseless are deeply unprofitable and are unattractive to for-profit developers.”
Public funding from county or state governments was used on the fewer than one dozen projects constructed during the 2015 to 2020 emergency proclamation period. Private nonprofit developers rarely pursued such a project due to challenges like cost that remained despite exemptions.
According to the release, the expiration date for the amended emergency proclamation remains March 20, just as in the original document signed earlier this week.