The legislature further finds that many people who experience homelessness have high health care needs and costs. In fiscal years 2014 and 2015, The Queen's Medical Center reported treating 3,441 patients who were homeless, including an unsheltered patient who reportedly received treatment 12,271 times over two years, which cost The Queen's Medical Center more than $5,000,000 per year. For many of these individuals with complex health conditions, housing instability can be a significant barrier to regular health care access, which results in excessive use of expensive emergency department, inpatient treatment, and crisis services. By recognizing the importance of housing stability within the practice of health care for homeless individuals, and exploring creative and innovative solutions to address homeless individuals' health care needs through housing stability from traditional and non-traditional resources, the State may be able to recover the costs that homeless individuals incur over their lifetime.
The legislature recognizes that the department of human services and the department of health have piloted efforts to target supportive housing services for a small cohort of chronically homeless individuals through the Hawaii pathways project. The Hawaii pathways project has demonstrated early success in meeting the housing and health care needs of chronically homeless individuals, and the department of human services is working to expand supportive housing services through an amendment of the state 1115 medicaid waiver.
The purpose of this Act is to support current efforts being made by the department of human services and to require the department to report to the legislature in regard to its progress in expanding supportive housing services for a broader population of chronically homeless individuals.
SECTION 2. (a) The department of human services, in collaboration with the department of health, shall review the progress of the Hawaii pathways project pilot and continue to pursue efforts to utilize medicaid to provide supportive housing services for chronically homeless individuals.
(3) Proposed eligibility criteria to qualify for supportive housing services.
SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2017-2018 for the purposes of this Act; provided that no funds appropriated under this Act shall be expended unless matched dollar-for-dollar with federal funds.