Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 1, 1 January 1985 — Native Hawaiian Housing Program Gets HUD Support [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Native Hawaiian Housing Program Gets HUD Support

According to the loeal head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD), Housing Secretary Samuel Pierce is "very sympathetic" to the idea of a federal housing program for native Hawaiians. Robert Fukuda, HUD's area manager, brought Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees up-do-date on the possibility of establishing such a program during the board's Dec. 14 meeting on Molokai. Fukuda said although the federal government builds 2,000 housing units a year for American Indians and Alaskan natives, Hawaiians presently are not eligible to participate in this program. Special legislation must be passed by Congress to include Hawaiians. Fukuda said Secretary Pierce's interest in the housing needs of Hawaiians was demonstrated by the recent island visit of the Secretary's special assistant, Ray Combs, whose mission was to do a survey of those needs. Combs met with someofOHA'strustees during December, but a scheduling mix-up prevented him from conferring with the full board. According to Fukuda, Combs' message first is that Hawaiians must have a land base, analogous to the tribal lands of Indians and Alaskan natives before a housing program ean be developed. Fukuda said that Hawaii's ceded lands might serve as a basis for such a land base. Secondly, Combs stressed the importance of Hawaiian groups reaching a consensus on the subject. He said Congress needs to deal with a single organization whieh ean speak for the Hawaiian people. Fukuda told the board that OHA should be that organization since it is the only group constitutionally created and elected by the Hawaiian people.

Robert Fukuda raps with trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs at Dec. 14 Molokai meeting.