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Committee advances resolutions to pilot homelessness sanctuary and improve interagency coordination
Summary
The committee advanced HR88/HCR92 to request a two-year homelessness sanctuary pilot and HCR180 to encourage collaborative work among state and county homelessness coordinators, law enforcement and service providers. Testimony included lived-experience testimony from a student who said they sleep in a car and urged speedy action.
The House Committee on Health & Homelessness advanced two related measures on March 20, 2025: HR88/HCR92, which requests the governor’s coordinator on homelessness and the City and County of Honolulu to establish a two‑year homelessness sanctuary pilot program, and HCR180, which asks state and local homelessness and law‑enforcement coordinators and social‑service providers to work collaboratively to address homelessness in Hawaii.
Multiple community witnesses testified in support. One testifier, identifying themself as a student and Capitol intern who currently sleeps in their car, described daily safety fears and illegalities of sleeping in vehicles and urged swift passage, saying the lack of safe options had led to exploitation.
The statewide office on homelessness and housing solutions provided comments and emphasized that sanctuary programs leave participants technically unsheltered; the office’s goal remains to move individuals into permanent housing rather than leave them in long-term unsheltered situations. Another witness, Jun Yang from the statewide office, said many of the services asked for in the resolution are already being delivered locally and that the proposed resolutions may mostly formalize coordination.
The committee moved both measures forward with HDs for technical amendments and to reflect clarifications noted in testimony. HCR180 was advanced with edits to clarify the local nature of many responses and to encourage collaboration rather than replace local programs.
Neither resolution created a new program with an appropriation; both ask for pilot design, interagency coordination and reports or collaborative plans from the specified offices.
