Hawaii Bill looking for a reversed mortgage program run by the State will be dead for the time being
HB 1306 would try to set up a state-specific HECM program that is managed by the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. (HFDC), Specific to help older Hawaiians, referred to as ‘Kupuna’, with the rising costs of the homeowner.
Initially introduced in January by Iwamoto, the bill was referred to three different committees (Consumer Protection and Trade, Finance and Housing) for further deliberation.
A person who is familiar with the legislative positions in the state Housing‘s Reverse MortGage Daily (RMD) that the reference of a bill to so many committees seriously slows down his legislative momentum and would not offer enough time in the limited legislative session in Honolulu.
The session started in the third week of January and runs for 60 legislative daysWho excludes the weekend, holidays and jumping out days. The session usually ends at the end of April or early May. This year’s session will be postponed on 2 May.
RMD contacted the Iwamoto office for clarity about the status of the account. A statement confirmed that the bill will not claim this session further.
“This bill did not receive a hearing on time to get certain deadlines, so the bill is dead for the year,” said a spokesperson for the office. “However, the bill has a second shot to hear in the next calendar year as the applicable chairman of the committee chooses.”
The bill shared various agreements with the HECM program, including a minimum age requirement of 62 years, the addition of insurance authority to the HFDC and a requirement for approval of the lender by the state authority. Leers should meet the age requirement and individual counseling requirements.
But the bill also contains a provision that would make assistance possible for a borrower when the equity in their home is exhausted, something that has increased the eyebrows of the reverse mortgage industry. At that time, HFDC would “coordinate with and the Kupuna homeowner to move to an affordable rental properties under the company and start the sale of the home,” is the bill.
One Hawaii founder expressed lighting about the news that the bill did not move forward. Individual, National Reverse MortGage Lenders Association (NRMLA) President Steve Irwin told RMD that the State and Local Commission of the Association met last week.
“We are not fully at home at the moment on the intention behind this,” Irwin said in an interview last week. “I think I can assume that the need and the importance of earning income with equity is crucial. We have an aging nation and financing people’s pension is a great concern and must necessarily receive attention. However, there are facilities within this bill, which are complicated and worrying. “
There was not enough information available about these provisions and NRMLA expressed the desire to reach the sponsors of the account. But now that the bill is pausing at least 2026, it is unclear whether this will be a priority. The Iwamoto office did not respond to a follow-up question asking whether they and the other co-sponsors would be motivated to re-introduce the bill in the next legislative session.
This is the second reverse mortgage account at state level that may be sidelined this month.
Last week, a committee meeting found in the Senate of the State of Oregon that the proposed legislation that would limit the amount of equity that a reverse mortgage provider could receive after the sale or transfer of a property too aimed at inverted mortgages. The bill is apparently intended to focus on the contract industry for equity, according to a discussion between legislators and witnesses that include reverse mortgage professionals.
“It sounds like we have to do some change processing to ensure that we are accurately focusing on the products,” said committee chairman Khanh Pham at the end of the discussion.
